This episode sees Steve and Christabel explore a topic that has fascinated philosophers for centuries in their attempt to answer Steve’s daughter's question “Is your brain a separate thing that tells you to do things?”.

To gain insight into the nature of a person’s relationship with their brain, mind or thoughts, the two begin by consulting Plato, Akṣapāda Gautama and the Cārvākamaterialist school of thought.

Rather than answering our original question, this foray into the ancient world only serves to generate more, including “Does the mind have parts?”, “Are mental states physical?” and “Where does our agency originate from?” To answer the first question, Margret Cavendish’s argument for mental disunity is pitted against René Descartes insistence that the mind is indivisible. The winner of this particular bout is clear to anyone who’s stayed at the pub for one more round, knowing they have work early next morning.

In considering the second question, Steve and Christabel wonder what the Cartesians would have made of the unfortunate case of Phineas Gage, who had a rod pass through his brain whilst working on the railroad.

The third question is answered pretty definitively by way of David Hume’s slogan that ‘reason is the slave of the passions’. The two finish with a (fierce, but wholly unphilosophical) debate as to which of them would better endure Bernard Williams’ torture thought experiment (it’s Christabel).

Email us the impossible questions children ask you at philosophyplaydate@gmail.com

Find Steve at https://drstevecross.squarespace.com

Philosophy Playdate theme by Piers Cane