John Searle, Philosophy of Mind - UC Berkeley

I am very happy and proud to present you yet another guest post by Saeed Ahmed. Saeed is a psychiatrist, a Pakistani by origin, who lives and works in the US, where he has also received his professional training. He is a very thorough podcast listener, taking on themes and building wide playlists around them. Or he takes on podcast university courses and carefully goes through the whole series. Here he writes his findings about a course at Berkeley about the Philosophy of Mind, Philosophy 132, 001, delivered by Professor John R. Searle. (feed)

When I first went here a few weeks ago, they had posted that most of the lectures wouldn't be available, but it looks like that has changed, so I have started listening.

Unlike Philosophy 138, 001 - Philosophy of Society (Searle's previous course - feed), which I think is a relatively recent interest of Searle's (or so it seems), the Philosophy of Mind is something he has thought about for decades and is one the world authorities on the subject.

I can't report much yet beyond lecture 1, which I think in itself is worth listening because it provides a very nice synopsis of the Cartesian influence and a summary of big problems in the field. Four of the problems: 1) How can one know one's own mind exists, 2) how can one know other mind's exist, 3) how can one know other objects exist and 4) free will.

Here Searle is at his best, in command of the material, lecturing without any aids (notes, powerpoint slides, etc), and taking interesting digressions from time to time.

I don't know which course to recommend more, this one or the one from last quarter (Philosophy of Society), however I think at least one of these should be sampled by anyone who has the remotest interest in philosophy, and I would say this is nearly mandatory for anyone interested in philosophy of mind, consciousness, or free will.

More Saeed Ahmed:
Politics 114B - UCLA political science course.

More Berkeley:
The Indian Rebellion 1857,
Human Evolution and Prehistory,
Dacher Keltner on Happiness and Health,
Modern Western History in podcasts,
Wars, Empires, Nations 1648-1914.

The genocide and the trial - NBIH

Before I direct you to the two recent issues of New Books in History that touched on the issue of genocide and the trial of the perpetrators, I would want to advise you to listen to an old episode of Philosophy Bites. In this interview Chandran Kukathas of the London School of Economics analyzes the concept of genocide, its history and its legal meaning. He also formulates a proposal for improvement of the term. The points that stick out are that in a wide definition, genocide could imply acts that are not mass murder or destruction, but that are still aimed at eradicating a certain group, such as the burning of libraries, forced assimilation and measures to stop breeding. Yet Kukathas wants to refocus on the methods and make sure genocide will cover especially the murderous aspects of the crime. And then he wants to add more groupings to the definition and not reserve genocide only for the mass murder of ethnic and religious groups.

His expose of definitory problems are relevant in both issues of New Books In History, that I would like to recommend here, but especially for the interview Marshall Poe conducted with Ben Kiernan who witnessed the genocide perpetrated by the Khmer regime in Cambodia (both he and Kukathas define this as genocide even if it might be problematic definition-wise). He wrote a book about genocides (Blood and Soil) and even though he seems to engage in an entirely different kind of definitions than Kukathas (More historic and less legal) he comes up with the same examples and Poe takes him through those after having extensively touched upon Kiernan's experiences in Cambodia.

The next issue of NBIH to high-light goes into the details of one example of the genocide par excellence, the holocaust. Marshall Poe had a fascinating conversation with Hilary Earl about the history of the SS-Einsatzgruppen and their trials in Nuremberg. Apart from grazing the problems of definition (and of trial) again, Earl's research also gives a little bit more insight in how ordinary people, even educated, upper-middle-class people can be turned into murderers. And once a whole nation has been turned into a nation of murderers, how can trials be conducted, is a large additional part of the story.

A lot more about the subject of genocide can be had from the podcasts of the US Holocaust Memorial Museum (which is also on iTunes). Another interesting addition is to follow Berkeley's History course that delves into the history and practice of Human Rights. Last but not least the LSE Podcast had several relevant issues, among others about the genocide in Rwanda and about the ICC.

More Philosophy Bites:
Dirty Hands,
Understanding decisions,
Nietzsche repossessed,
What can you do with philosophy?,
Morality without God.

More NBIH:
Nation and Culture,
Three New Books In History,
The fourth part of the world,
How the Soviet system imploded,
Vietnam War perspectives.

The battle of The Podcast Parlor

There is small on-line community that every reader of this blog should be a member of: The Podcast Parlor. I have set up this place for my readers together with podcast reviewers Dara, Baxter and Saeed (and their readers) to have a single place where the good, educational, intellectual podcasts can be discussed.

So far this community has not succeeded in flourishing too well. Not only do we need more people to join and to actively participate. We have also been drowning in spam. We would have fake members join by the scores and then flood the Parlor with irrelevant postings and comments, the likes of which you can easily imagine especially after one glance in the spam section of your email inbox. But this has changed.

In order to be able to join the parlor you have to pass our, the admins Dara, Baxter, Saeed and myself, approval to join. Should that pose a problem? Not if you are genuinely interested in podcasts and have shed even the shortest glance at my blog, Dara's, Baxter's or Saeed's postings on the Parlor. In order to set up a profile, you will only have to give your email and mention a podcast review blog and a podcast you like and all of this informations stays confidential. This will show us instantly you are genuine and allow us to tell you from the spammers. Once in, you can meet like-minded people and find out what they listen to and what their opinions are.

I really urge you to join the Parlor. Not only is this going to serve your quest for good on-line audio. You also support the free podcast reviews you get from our blogs and you also, eventually support the many, many podcasters out there who give your their wonderful products for free.

New history podcasts to look out for

In the past weeks several history podcasts that are worth following delivered new content. I will be referring to history podcasts that have little frequency in their release schedule and this may have as a result the new episode is overlooked.

First of all, there was a new episode in the series Dan Carlin's Hardcore History. Dan Carlin took up the story of Ferdinand Magellan in order to delve into thoughts about the dynamics of the age of exploration. When the old world and the new world got connected it radically changed the entire world. And although it was bound to happen one day and be set in motion by some people, there is something surprising about the fact that the likes of Magellan were the agents of history. Those, the Europeans, until then rather marginal on the world stage, got from this point center stage. And Dan Carlin deliberates what was special about them. Especially good and especially bad. (feed)

Historyzine came with the next episode and in addition to the podcast reviews and an exceptionally good edition of the linguistic trivia, which had an Indian theme with words like Avatar, Thug and Blighty. The narration of the War of the Spanish succession, entered the year 1707 in which, for the first time I remember in this series, the allies (the English, Dutch and Austrians) suffer some serious setbacks. (feed)

After a very long hiatus during which I thought the podcast had faded, La Resistance released an episode about the resistance figure Henry Frenay. After Jean Moulin, Frenay was probably the most influential and important person in the French Resistance. With Frenay, this did not sit well. This podcast studies the complicated history and character of Frenay who not only battled the Germans, but also ... Jean Moulin. (feed)

Two new interviews were released on the Exploring Environmental History podcast. Jan Oosthoek spoke with Jim Clifford about the history of the river Lea, which developed from a rather insignificant arm of the Thames to to a major industrial artery with great environmental impact. With James Beattie he discusses the anxieties colonists dealt with. When the Europeans began to colonize the rest of the world during the age of imperialism, they had to manage to adapt to and survive in radically different climates and landscapes than they were used to. This was not merely a practical challenge, it turned out to be also a psychological one. (feed)

De Eerste Wereldoorlog in podcast

Het is hoog tijd dat ik weer eens over Veertien Achttien schrijf. Deze amateur podcast, verzorgd door Tom Tacken, brengt wekelijks een kwartier luisterrijke audio waarin het verloop van de Eerste Wereldoorlog chronologisch op de voet gevolgd wordt en tevens een portret van een van de aanwezigen wordt uitgewerkt. Aan de hand van deze portrettenserie weet Tacken een uiterst gevarieerd beeld van het grote narratief te schetsen. Dankzij de uiteenlopende figuranten weet hij de eveneens uiteenlopende thematieken uit te lichten. Niet alleen de gevechtshandelingen op de verschillende fronten, alsmede de politieke achtergronden krijgen daardoor de aandacht, maar tevens de kleine menselijke, de culturele en andere vaak overgeslagen aspecten van deze wereldbrand.

Voor wie meer uitgebreid over de Grote Oorlog ingelicht wil worden, zijn vele andere podcasts beschikbaar. Een van de velen die op dit moment relevant materiaal biedt is de hoorcollegeserie op Berkeley, History 151c, die de moderne historie van Groot Brittannië bespreekt. Het college van vorige week ging specifiek over 'The Great War', maar als het enigszins gaat zou ik de lezer willen overhalen om niet een enkele lezing, maar het geheel te beluisteren. Professor James Vernon brengt op een zeer bekwame en onderhoudende manier de moderne liberale rechtsstaat in beeld en weet daarin op indringende wijze schrijnende paradoxen zichtbaar te maken. Deze paradoxen zijn niet uniek voor de Britse samenleving daardoor buitengewoon interessant.

Meer Veertien Achttien:
Ford en anderen,
Sigmund Freud,
Edith Cavell,
Rudyard Kipling, (speciaal aanbevolen)
Ferdinand I van Bulgarije.

Meer Berkeley:
The Indian Rebellion 1857,
Human Evolution and Prehistory,
Dacher Keltner on Happiness and Health,
Modern Western History in podcasts,
Wars, Empires, Nations 1648-1914.

Two podcast issues on the History of Haiti

Haiti may be associated with natural disasters, abject poverty and political instability, but it can pride itself in being the product of the one successful slave revolt in history, to be the first republic of black people and to be the second independent state in the Western hemisphere (after the US). In addition, when it was still a colony of France, it was one of the world's major producers of sugar, coffee and indigo and as such represented immeasurable wealth. The history of Haiti's coming into existence is retold in the 10th lecture of UCSD's series MMW 5.

This podcast is delicately complemented by ABC's Rear Vision, which brought an issue about Haiti. Rear Vision summarizes what you have already learned from MMW 5 and shows how the circumstances in which Haiti is established already bear with it the elements that make for its consecutive instability. A free slave nation, obviously, meant a threat to other powers that heavily relied on slave even if they were the enemies of France. Haiti also inherited the ethnic divisions that were the social fabric of the slave society and this continued to cause political instability. And last but not least, the country lies on a seismic fault line and in the path of heavy seasonal tornadoes to name but some of the environmental challenges.

The modern history narrative of Rear Vision can be compared with the MMW 6 lecture on Haiti, which, according to the MMW 5 lecture, is to be expected. Maybe this summer.

More MMW 5:
Revolution, Industry & Empire.

More Rear Vision:
History of Yemen,
Freemasons,
China,
A history of the Israeli-Arab conflict,
Fish depletion.