#81 Changing Minds, Metaphysics, and a Life in Analytic Philosophy with Janet Levin of USC

Send a love message Janet Levin on Physicalism, Zombies, and Changing Minds Andrea hosts philosopher Janet Levin, newly retired after 40 years at USC and the department’s first tenure-track woman hire, to discuss a life in analytic philosophy and debates about mind and consciousness. Levin recounts stumbling into philosophy at the University of Chicago with Ted Cohen and later studying at MIT amid figures like Jerry Fodor, Noam Chomsky, and advisor Ned Block, and writing the Stanford Encyclopedia entry on functionalism. They contrast dualism and physicalism, explain metaphysics as inquiry into what exists and what is possible, and examine thought experiments such as Descartes’ arguments, Jackson’s knowledge argument, and Chalmers’ zombie case. Levin holds that our feelings and experiences are nothing over and above physical processes in the body, primarily the brain and central nervous system. The conversation closes on teaching, women in philosophy, and how openness, identity, and social forces affect willingness to change one’s mind and pursue truth.The Road Taken APA TalkJanet LevinTime Stamps:00:00 Big Questions on Mind Change01:47 Consciousness and Zombies02:11 Welcome and Season Setup03:22 Meet Janet Levin07:31 Stumbling Into Philosophy08:25 Why Minds Change Slowly11:10 Synthetic Hippocampus and Extended Mind12:57 Chicago Origins With Ted Cohen18:02 MIT Era and Cognitive Revolution22:01 From Behaviorism to Functionalism26:17 Defining Physicalism and Supervenience29:23 What Is the Mind Really34:46 Cognitive Phenomenology Debate37:31 What Metaphysics Studies40:02 Classic Metaphysics Puzzles43:15 Free Will and Determinism46:34 Descartes and the Self51:41 Conceivability and Zombie Arguments58:40 Dualism’s Causation Problem01:11:40 Type B Physicalism and Phenomenal Concepts01:22:46 Water Lightning Mind01:24:15 Identity Theory Pushback01:27:51 Physicalism Explained Broadly01:30:05 Phenomenal Concepts Introspection01:32:17 Introspection As Skill01:34:44 Defending Armchair Philosophy01:37:22 Armchair Near Window01:39:10 How Minds Change01:43:55 Bias Identity And Windows01:45:35 Women In Philosophy Shifts01:50:28 Grad Training Mentorship01:54:43 Teaching Confidence Bloomers01:57:42 Love Retirement Future Questions02:02:12 Host Outro WaymakingGiving PageLonger Show Notes and PDF of APA talkJanet Levin is Professor Emerita of Philosophy at the University of Southern California, where she was a longtime faculty member in the School of Philosophy. Her research focuses on epistemology, philosophy of mind, and philosophy of psychology. She earned her Ph.D. in philosophy from MIT and her B.A. from the University of Chicago. Much of her work engages with one of the hardest problems in philosophy: how to account for the subjective, felt quality of conscious experience within a broadly physicalist framework. She has also written the entry on functionalism for the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy — the view that what makes something a mental state depends not on its physical makeup, but on the functional role it plays in a larger system. Levin holds that our feelings and experiences are nothing over and above physical processes in the body, primarily the brain and central nervous system.In her 2022 book The Metaphysics of Mind, published by Cambridge University Press, Levin surveys the major contemporary theories of mind — including dualism, type-identity theory, role functionalism, Russellian monism, and eliminativism — assessing the strengths and weaknesses of each.Full intro and notes here.Care is not the opposite of love. It is the very urge of life. 'Caring for what?' is the primary question. That we have a choice about what we care for and how is what makes us human, but it's quite the challenge and responsibility. Let's help one another handle it.Support the showBuy Holding Paradox: The Navigational Approach to Mind and Consciousness by Andrea HiottSign up for Making Ways newsletter and projects.Please rate and review with love. YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Substack.