48 - Patricia Churchland: Neurophilosophy, Free Will, & Consciousness

Patricia Churchland is UC President’s Professor of Philosophy Emerita at the University of California, San Diego. She is among the most well-known and impactful figures working in the philosophy of mind, and a prominent early neurophilosopher who advocated the importance of neuroscience in the philosophy of mind. Pat and Robinson discuss three broad topics: neurophilosophy and ethics—particularly with reference to two of her recent books, Braintrust: What Neuroscience Tells Us about Morality and Conscience: The Origins of Moral Intuition—what neuroscience has to say about the problem of free will, and the neurophilosophical approach to consciousness. You can keep up with Pat’s work at patriciachurchland.com, as well as on Twitter, @patchurchland. Linktree: https://linktr.ee/robinsonerhardt Outline: 00:00 In This Episode 00:36 Introduction 3:07 A Family of Neuroscientists 12:27 What Is Neurophilosophy? 15:44 Neuroscience and Morality 22:13 Evolution and Morality 33:00 Mirror Neurons and Imitation 38:56 Neuroscience and Metaethics 47:58 Neurophilosophy, Free Will, & The Self 1:05:24 Neuroscience & David Chalmers’ Hard Problem of Consciousness