Converging Dialogues

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Walter Veit about animal consciousness. They talk about various frameworks for understanding consciousness, the naturalist approach, cognitive ethology, and pathological complexity thesis. They discuss consciousness arising in the Cambrian period, defining consciousness, free will, consciousness profile, Integrated Information Theory, interacting with animals, and many more topics. Walter Veit is a lecturer in philosophy at the University of Reading. He is also the Director of the PPE Program and the Philosophy MA Program. He is also an external member of the Munich Center for Mathematical Philosophy at the University of Munich. He has his PhD from the School of History and philosophy of Science at the University of Sydney. His research interests have been on animal ethics, welfare, and evolution. He is the author of the book, A Philosophy for the Science of Animal Consciousness. Website: https://walterveit.com/Twitter: @wrwveit Get full access to Converging Dialogues at convergingdialogues.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Michael Muthukrishna about energy, cooperation, and global themes. They discuss the broad scope of the book, importance of theory, energy being essential for cooperation, corruption and cooperation, laws of life, cooperation fueling human growth, and some of the negative aspects of cooperation. They also talk about intelligence, immigration, wealth inequality, meritocracy, and many other topics. Michael Muthukrishna is Associate Professor of economic psychology in the Department of Psychological and Behavioural Science at the London School of Economics and Political Science. He has his PhD in psychology from the University of British Columbia and his main interests are in cooperation, cross-cultural differences, and corruption. He is the author of the latest book, A Theory of Everyone: The New Science of Who We Are, How we got here, and Where we are going. Website: https://www.michael.muthukrishna.com/Twitter: @mmuthukrishnaBook Website: https://www.atheoryofeveryone.com/Substack: Michael Muthukrishna 2019 paper on theory: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-018-0522-1You might also like: Get full access to Converging Dialogues at convergingdialogues.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Sam Ottewill-Soulsby about Christians and Muslims relationships during the age of Charlemagne. They discuss Charlemagne and his context, the viewpoint of the Muslim world, and the landscape of the Abbasid and Umayyad empires. They discuss prestige diplomacy, frontier diplomacy, importance of Islam and Christianity, four legal schools of Islam, and Carolingian religious values. They also discuss the dynamics with the Abbasid, gift giving, war and peace with the Umayyads in the 9th century, and many more topics. Sam Ottewill-Soulsby is a researcher at the University of Oslo. He has a Bachelors in History from the University of York, Masters in Medieval History and PhD in History from the University of Cambridge. He has been a Research Associate for the Impact of the Ancient City project at the University of Cambridge. He was also Visiting Research Fellow at the Migration and Mobility in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages Center for Advanced Studies at the University of Tübingen. He is the author of the book, The Emperor and the Elephant: Christians and Muslims in the Age of Charlemagne. Twitter: @sottewillsoulsb Get full access to Converging Dialogues at convergingdialogues.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Melvin Rogers about Black American thought and democracy. They discuss the two visions/stories of democracy in America, utility of rhetoric, and whether white supremacy is still a relevant term in present-day America. They discuss Walker’s use of appeal, on freedom, Jefferson on we the people, political loss, Baldwin and race relations, how we move forward, and many more topics. Melvin Rogers is the Associate Director of the Center for Philosophy, Politics, and Economics and Professor of Political Science at Brown University. He has his MPhil in Political Thought and Intellectual History from Cambridge and his PhD in Political Science from Yale University. His main interests are in democratic theory, American, and African-American political thought. He is the author of numerous books, including the most recent, The Darkened Light of Faith. Website: https://www.melvinrogers.site/Twitter: @mrogers097 Get full access to Converging Dialogues at convergingdialogues.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Juliet Hooker about the politics of loss and the racial themes connected with loss. They discuss how racial justice is a prominent theme in today’s society, they define loss and how it is political, and discuss anticipatory loss. They also talk about white Americans with Anticipatory loss, symbolic vs. material loss, democracy and political loss, and class and inequality. They also discuss Civil Rights today, Black Maternal health, public grievance, and many other topics. Juliet Hooker is the Royce Family Professor of Teaching Excellence in Political Science at Brown University. She is a political theorist that teaches and covers topics of racial justice, Latin American political thought and Black political thought. She has her PhD in government from Cornell University. She is the author of numerous books including the most recent book, Black Grief/White Grievance: The Politics of Loss. Website: https://juliethooker.com/Twitter: @creoleprof Get full access to Converging Dialogues at convergingdialogues.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Manon Garcia about sexual consent. They define what is consent, legal and moral consent, qualitative sex and consensual sex, and where power and responsibility fit within sexual consent. They discuss gender norms, consent out of politeness, reciprocal pleasure, consent in marriage, sex as a conversation, and many more topics. Manon Garcia is a philosopher, author, and Junior Professor of practical philosophy at Freie Universitat in Berlin, Germany. She has a PhD in philosophy from the Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne. She has completed fellowships at Harvard, University of Chicago, and was an Assistant Professor of philosophy at Yale University. Her main interests are in political philosophy, feminist philosophy, and moral philosophy. She is the author of two books which are, We Are Not Born Submissive: How Patriarchy Shapes Women’s Lives, and her most recent book, The Joy of Consent: A Philosophy of Good Sex. Website: https://www.manon-garcia.com/Twitter: @manongarciafr Get full access to Converging Dialogues at convergingdialogues.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Melissa Kearney about the two-parent privilege. They define what is the two-parent privilege, the class gap in families and importance of college educated parents. They talk about conservative family values and views on two-parent households, two parents working outside of the home, working moms, stay-at-home moms, and single moms. They talk about the child tax credit, childhood poverty, birth rates, and many more topics. Melissa S. Kearney is the Neil Moskowitz Professor of Economics at the University of Maryland and Director of the Aspen Economic Strategy Group. She is a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER); a non-resident Senior Fellow at Brookings; a scholar affiliate and member of the board of the Notre Dame Wilson-Sheehan Lab for Economic Opportunities (LEO); and a scholar affiliate of the MIT Abdul Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL). She is an editorial board member of the American Economic Journal: Economic Policy and Journal of Economic Literature, and a former co-editor of the Journal of Human Resources and Senior Editor of Future of Children. She holds a BA in Economics from Princeton University and a PhD in Economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She is the author of the book, The Two-Parent Privilege: How Americans Stopped Getting Married and Started Falling Behind. Website: http://econweb.umd.edu/~kearney/melissa_website/index.htmlTwitter: @kearney_melissa Get full access to Converging Dialogues at convergingdialogues.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Kevin Mitchell about the evolutionary story of free will. They discuss why biology and genetics help understand free will, different levels of determinism, reacting vs. choosing at the cellular level, and choice with ion channels in the cell. They also discuss dimensions of free will, vision and choice, decision making at cortical levels of the brain, creativity, and metacognition. They engage on personality theories, notion of the self, AI and free will, and many more topics. Kevin Mitchell is an Associate Professor of Genetics and Neuroscience at Trinity College Dublin. He has his BA in Genetics from Trinity College Dublin and his PhD in Neurobiology from the University of California at Berkeley. His current research focuses on genetics and wiring of the brain specifically as it relates to neuropsychiatric disorders. He is the author of Innate: How the wiring of our brains shapes who we are and his latest book, Free Agents: How Evolution Gave Us Free WillWebsite: https://www.kjmitchell.com/Blog: http://www.wiringthebrain.com/Twitter: @wiringthebrainYou might also like: Get full access to Converging Dialogues at convergingdialogues.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Clancy Martin about suicide. They talk about his personal experiences and why he wrote the book in such an honest manner. They discuss why suicide is such a taboo topic, why gratitude for life isn’t always enough, practical ways to help when feeling suicidal, and the imminence of death. They talk about freedom and burden of living, assisted suicide, treatment, and many more topics.Clancy Martin is a philosopher and author. He is a professor of philosophy at the University of Missouri in Kansas City and Ashoka University in New Delhi. His writing has appeared in The New Yorker, New York, The Atlantic, Harper’s, Esquire, and The Paris Review. He is the author of the book, How Not To Kill Yourself: A Portrait of the Suicidal Mind. If you or someone you know feels suicidal, please contact the National Suicide Hotline 24/7: 988You might also like: Get full access to Converging Dialogues at convergingdialogues.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, Yascha Mounk, author and expert in cultural wars and identity, talks about the lure of the identity trap, the history of the identity synthesis, the impact of social media, institutional capture, and engagement with identity issues. They also discuss the misuse of intersectionality, the influence of social media on society, and the worrying trend of critical social justice in major institutions.