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#47 (Bonus) - Dualism, Reductionism, and Explanation Pancakes

#47 (Bonus) - Dualism, Reductionism, and Explanation Pancakes

Vaden goes on The Declaration podcast to argue about dualism, the reality of abstractions, emergence, and reductionism.

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January 16, 20231h 32m

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Show Notes

Second holiday season bonus episode! Vaden joins Chesto on The Declaration podcast to talk about monism, dualism, the reality of abstractions, emergence, and reductionism. This convo was recorded in 2019, but much of the content is evergreen and we think it still makes for interestin' listenin'. Except the sound quality, which leaves much to be desired. Thanks Blue Yeti.

We discuss:

  • The mind-body problem
  • Why Vaden is a filthy pluralist and Chesto is a sober, sane, rational materialist
  • Reductonism vs dualism vs pluralism
  • The reality of abstractions
  • Why explanations are central to science
  • Would you get into a Star Trek transporter?
  • And, a little bit out of left field, some advice for talking about mental health

References:

Errata:

  • In the Domino example from BOI the prime number was 641, not whatever number Vaden said
  • The Voyager spacecraft launched in 1977, not 1972

Contact us

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Photo credit: https://www.johndcook.com/blog/2019/11/07/optimization-dominoes-and-frankenstein/

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Topics

dualismreductionismexplanationsabstractionsmind body problem