Ep. 231: Descartes's "Discourse" on Wisdom an...

Continuing on Consciousness Explained (Ch. 5, 12). We talk about appearance vs. judgment and whether Dennett's denial of this distinction makes sense or just holds for very short time-scales, as in the phi-phenomenon experiment. Does the rejection of appearances and rejection of ...  Show more

On "First Person Authority" (1984). What warrants our superior knowledge of our own mental states, as oppose to those of others? Why is this not obvious? Read along with us. You can choose to watch this on video. Subscribe to Closereads at patreon.com/closereadsphilosophy; follow ...  Show more

Descartes’ “provisional” morality and his views on free will and virtue.

How René Descartes’ understanding of his own intellectual project evolved across his lifetime.

We're joined in this episode by a leading expert on one of the most famous works of philosophy ever written: Descartes' Meditations.

On this episode of the podcast, we begin learning about Rene Descartes. First, we find out why the entire human race can be compared to the loud, obnoxious guy at a party who thinks he’s smarter than everyone else. Next, we examine Descartes’ rigorous method of doubt and how it i ...  Show more