Unmaking Sense

The Liberal Rationalist Principle is mistaken: getting our reasoning right will not usher in a world of peace and harmony.

David Hume and how we define our rationality according to our passions, rather than the other way round. So if we don’t like a rational conclusion, we change our assumptions to avoid it. Implications for human communication and relationships.

Zooming out to get our bearings helps to locate us in space and time, and the same is true for thoughts and ideas: we can have too much detail and too little; we need to be at the right scale to understand.

When we use language, we reach for universal meaning using finite terms. This confers benefits but carries dangers, which the episode explores.

Beginning with plants, we see how reactions to changes of environment stimulate emergent self-conscious expression of freedom.

As supervenient systems become self-monitoring, so they become reactive to themselves as effectively external stimuli inviting and demanding responses.

How we can find ourselves doing something without quite knowing why, and that we should trust the unconscious brain when it directs us to such experiences.

Unconscious cognition and learning how to use it. Spontaneous speaking and writing: where do the thoughts come from?

We no more understand how we process information than how we digest food, but our diet still matters if we are to live healthy lives. Not all learning is conscious, and we need to learn how to learn unconsciously if we are to thrive.

We allow language to persuade us that the questions we ask are worth asking and the answers we give the right answers, but maybe that’s just not so.