BI 136 Michel Bitbol and Alex Gomez-Marin: Phenomenology

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Michel Bitbol is Director of Research at CNRS (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique). Alex Gomez-Marin is a neuroscientist running his lab, The Behavior of Organisms Laboratory, at the Instituto de Neurociencias in Alicante. We discuss phenomenology as an alternative perspective on our scientific endeavors. Although we like to believe our science is objective and explains the reality of the world we inhabit, we can't escape the fact that all of our scientific knowledge comes through our perceptions and interpretations as conscious living beings. Michel has used phenomenology to resolve many of the paradoxes that quantum mechanics generates when it is understood as a description of reality, and more recently he has applied phenomenology to the philosophy of mind and consciousness. Alex is currently trying to apply the phenomenological approach to his research on brains and behavior. Much of our conversation revolves around how phenomenology and our "normal" scientific explorations can co-exist, including the study of minds, brains, and intelligence- our own and that of other organisms. We also discuss the "blind spot" of science, the history and practice of phenomenology, various kinds of explanation, the language we use to describe things, and more.

• Michel's website
• Alex's Lab: The Behavior of Organisms Laboratory.
• Twitter: @behaviOrganisms (Alex)
• Related papers
  • The Blind Spot of Neuroscience  
  • The Life of Behavior
  • A Clash of Umwelts 
• Related events:
  • The Future Scientist (a conversation series)

0:00 - Intro 4:32 - The Blind Spot 15:53 - Phenomenology and interpretation 22:51 - Personal stories: appreciating phenomenology 37:42 - Quantum physics example 47:16 - Scientific explanation vs. phenomenological description 59:39 - How can phenomenology and science complement each other? 1:08:22 - Neurophenomenology 1:17:34 - Use of language 1:25:46 - Mutual constraints