Episode 8

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Published on:

14th Oct 2021

Free Will (or Not?), Part 5: Wilder Penfield’s Electrifying Method

Today we’ll look at Wilder Penfield’s ground-breaking work and research in neuroscience, and what it can teach us about the mind.

After a career spent exploring the brain, Penfield concluded that the brain, alone, was not sufficient to create the mind. But is this a consequence of Penfield’s work in the “hard sciences” – the objective outcomes of his direct experiments? Or is Penfield re-telling a story of mind that has been passed down to us from prevailing religious traditions and assumptions from Medieval Europe and before?

This is the first part of a two-part series, providing background on Penfield’s methodology and conclusions.

***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.

About your host

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Cori DiBiase