Iain McGilchrist: “Consciousness is the stuff of the cosmos”

Iain McGilchrist: “Consciousness is the stuff of the cosmos”

Renowned psychiatrist Dr. Iain McGilchrist laid out his idealist metaphysical views unambiguously in the closing presentation of the ‘Science of Consciousness’ conference, 2021. His clarity, lucidity and almost hypnotically compelling style provided a spellbinding end to the conference. It left us craving for more; so much so that we decided to start our publication of the conference’s videos with it. Below you will find both the video and a transcript of Dr. McGilchrist’s talk. The video, however, contains a Q&A session not transcribed in the text, so it’s worth watching to the end. Enjoy!

Iain McGilchrist: “Consciousness is the stuff of the cosmos”

From a brief partial perusal of McGilchrist's talk transcript, it appears that he definitely doesn't believe in survival or an afterlife, any more than do materialists, and that like them he must either dismiss the evidence or be ignorant of it. This greatly reduces his credibility and the interest of his concept of consciousness as far as I am concerned.

From a brief partial perusal of McGilchrist's talk transcript, it appears that he definitely doesn't believe in survival or an afterlife, any more than do materialists, and that like them he must either dismiss the evidence or be ignorant of it. This greatly reduces his credibility and the interest of his concept of consciousness as far as I am concerned.

I wrote to Iain about your post, I include both my full email and his reply here.

Hello Iain 

I hope this finds you in good spirits and health.


This post was put up by a member in response to your short talk (from the video at the end of this email) in a forum I visit. 

“From a brief partial perusal of McGilchrist's talk transcript, it appears that he definitely doesn't believe in survival or an afterlife, any more than do materialists, and that like them he must either dismiss the evidence or be ignorant of it. This greatly reduces his credibility and the interest of his concept of consciousness as far as I am concerned.”

[size=1]My limited intellect is not really capable of taking this apart and fully discussing it, however my intuition feels uneasy with the writer’s bias? Even if he may be right about your thoughts on conscious survival, he is surely wrong to dismiss your message so easily?[/size]

[size=1]Have you time to comment on this? [/size]

https://youtu.be/fciCsq0uBUI

Kind Regards
Steve

Thanks, Stephen, I agree on both counts.  No idea where either conclusion comes from.  He/she should try reading The Matter with Things.
[size=1] [/size]
All best wishes,

Iain