The Mind-Body Problem

Upcoming events

Thu./Fri 29/30 January 2026. I will be attending (by Zoom) the workshop: “Panpsychism, non-physicalism, and the causal powers of consciousness”. It takes place at Ruhr University Bochum, and is headed by Professor Hedda Hassel Mørch. A link to the website is HERE.

(Other future events will appear here)

Past events

(Most recent first)

Sunday 23 November 2025, I exhibited my books at The Oxford Indie Book Fair.

6-11 July 2025, I attended The Science of Consciousness 2025 Conference in Barcelona, Spain. (Follow the link, which opens a new tab, for details.) Here, on 7 July, I gave a concurrent talk, ‘Metaphors are valuable in summarizing solutions to the mind-body problem.  Two are considered here: “inside versus outside” and “first-person versus third-person”’. An external link to this talk is HERE. You may also wish to see a live video recording of this entire concurrent session (I’m on first) HERE.

1st December 2024 (together with my wife, Elena) I exhibited my books at The Oxford Indie Book Fair. We made some good sales: Details of future events are in the link.

In August 2023 I was the guest on a video podcast hosted by Jimmy Church. Here is the (external) link: Fade to Black

In May 2023 I was the guest on a podcast hosted by David Barnett. Here is the (external) link: Dave the Mystic

May 23-28, 2023: I gave a talk, “Pan-idealism: a novel metaphysical position that is consistent both with libertarian free will and contemporary physics“, at The Science of Consciousness conference, held, in Sicily, Italy. Full details are HERE

In February 2023 I appeared as a guest on two podcasts, which were broadcast in March. Here are the (external) links: First, Everything Imaginable, hosted by Gary Cocciolillo: Second, Destination Unlimited, hosted by Victor Fuhrman

In June 2022 I attended a conference on Russellian Monism at McMaster University, Ontario, Canada. Among the speakers was Galen Strawson. Some information about this conference may be found HERE (external link)

In June 2019 I presented a poster, entitled “A Process GRW Universe Composed Solely of Agents Possessing Free Will,“ at The Science of Consciousness conference, held in Interlaken, Switzerland. Information about the conference and my poster may be found HERE

In March 2011, I gave a talk “A Defence of Traditional Metaphysics” at Oxford University’s Philosophical Society’s Members’ Day 2011. A video based on my talk may be found HERE (external link)

(More past events will be added here)

In March 2003, I gave a concurrent talk “Naturalistic, Libertarian Free Will” at the Quantum Mind conference in Tucson, Arizona. A video based on my talk may be found HERE (external link)

Around 1994, before I became interested in the mind-body problem, I was (by unthinking default) a physicalist. I knew that there were unresolved issues in the vicinity of consciousness, but I believed that these would eventually have a scientific solution. Then I read Consciousness Explained (1991) by Daniel Dennett. Its wholesale rejection of phenomenology (i.e., of human experiences, such as a feeling of pain), and its replacement by heterophenomenology (the study of the verbal reports of subjects) was, in my view, the effective denial of mind. But the book made me aware of both the importance, and the extreme difficulties of the mind-body problem.

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