Episode 7

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Published on:

7th Oct 2021

Free Will (or Not?), Part 4: Medieval Memes

The way we talk about mind, self, and free will create those phenomena to a very large extent - or so we contend. We'll look first at the work of Richard Dawkins and hi notions of Memes, then at Frank Farrell and his analysis of the way the thinking in Medieval Europe has influenced its intellectual descendants, and we'll talk about Shakespeare.

Or, I should say, we INTEND to talk about Shakespeare. According to Claudius, it’s possible we didn't really manage it.

***SEASON ONE READINGS AND SOURCES***

A Philosophical Essay on Probabilities, by Pierre-Simon Laplace

Consciousness Explained, by Daniel C. Dennett (Paul Weiner, Illustrator)

Elbow Room: The Varieties of Free Will Worth Wanting, by Daniel C. Dennett

Freedom Evolves, by Daniel C. Dennett

Meditations on First Philosophy, by René Descartes

Mystery of the Mind: A Critical Study of Consciousness and the Human Brain, by Wilder Penfield

Subjectivity, Realism, and Postmodernism: The Recovery of the World in Recent Philosophy, by Frank B. Farrell

Copyright 2024 Cori Di Biase

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About the Podcast

A Freedom of Ideas
Considering the Philosophy, Literature, and History of Liberty
The idea of freedom is central to the way we live our lives. Some of us say we would die to defend it, and many have. To explain who and what we are, we first call ourselves “free”.

But for as often as we say the word, do we understand what freedom is?

We will explore the idea of freedom through the lens of philosophy, history, literature… and whatever else we can find to learn from. I hope you’ll join the conversation.

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Cori DiBiase