Philosophy For Our Times Mazes of the mind: The philosophy of neuroscience | Iain McGilchrist, Colin Blakemore, Bryan Appleyard
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Nov 12, 2025 
Colin Blakemore, a renowned neuroscientist, shares insights on brain development and the progressive nature of neuroscience. Iain McGilchrist, a psychiatrist and philosopher, critically explores the limitations of neuroscience in explaining consciousness. Bryan Appleyard, a journalist, highlights concerns about neurohype and the gap between brain data and subjective experience. Together, they debate neuroscience's role in understanding human behavior, the nature of free will, and whether complete brain imaging could ever encapsulate the richness of mental life.
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Personal fMRI Experience
- Bryan Appleyard describes undergoing a two+ hour fMRI study for a book and feeling dislocated afterward.
- He highlights the odd language used by neuroscientists who say "you are accessing" brain areas, separating the "you" from the scan.
Neuroscience Is A Description Level
- Iain McGilchrist argues neuroscience is a level of description, not the primary account of mind or being.
- He warns against category mistakes when extrapolating philosophical conclusions from brain data.
Brain Science Like Early Astronomy
- Colin Blakemore compares modern neuroscience to 16th-century astronomy: primitive tools facing huge explanatory problems.
- He suggests the brain's complexity makes full explanation difficult but not impossible, and no alternative explains behaviour better.
