- Home
- Mind-Body Solution
- Topics
- Meaning, purpose and the good life
Meaning, purpose and the good life
What makes a life worth living
What makes a life worth living? It is the question that runs through everything Dr Naidu does, from consultations to this programme, and the conversations collected here approach it through philosophy, science and religion.
Guests discuss whether the universe has a purpose or only we do, whether meaning needs a god, how purpose could arise in a physical world, what a meaning crisis is and how people live through one, and how our moral sense and conscience evolved. Others examine the part that religion and meditation play in human life.
Philosophers disagree on whether meaning is found, made or an illusion, and on whether it matters for health. There is research suggesting that a sense of purpose is linked with wellbeing, though the evidence is complicated and the direction of cause is not settled.
Dr Naidu's own framework of lifespan, healthspan and meaningspan holds that adding years matters less than adding years worth living, with something worth living them for. These conversations test that view from many directions.
Episodes are listed newest first. This is general discussion, not medical advice.
Episodes on this topic.
Adam Frank
Is Science Blind to Human Experience? Rethinking Life, Mind, the Universe and Meaning
Length 56 min
Jared Morningstar & John Buchanan
The Meaning Crisis, Process Philosophy, Psychedelics & Religion
Length 1 hr 39 min
Pim van Lommel
Does Consciousness Survive Death? The Science of Near-Death Experiences (NDE)
Length 1 hr 2 min
Donald Hoffman
What Are Traces of Consciousness? A New Breakthrough Unifying Mind and Reality
Length 2 hr 49 min
Mind-at-Large Project
The Meaning Crisis, Process Cosmology & Whitehead's Universe
Length 1 hr 39 min
Dr Tevin Naidu
Introducing the Mind-at-Large Project: A New Paradigm in Consciousness Research
Length 1 hr 51 min
Terrence Deacon & Michael Levin
What is Life? Complexity, Cognition & the Origin of Purpose
Length 1 hr 30 min
Matthew Segall
Is the Universe Ensouled with Experience? Consciousness, Cosmology, and Meaning
Length 1 hr 19 min
James Cooke
How Did Matter Become Conscious & Alive? Living Mirrors Theory & The Dawn of Mind
Length 1 hr 17 min
Denis Noble & Raymond Noble
Is Life Purposeful? A Paradigm Shift in Understanding Living Systems
Length 1 hr 58 min
Tom Campbell
Are We Living In A Simulation? Consciousness & A Theory Of Everything
Length 3 hr 27 min
John Vervaeke
Can Science Untangle the World-Knot of Consciousness? Relevance Realization & Meaning
Length 2 hr 1 min
Roy Baumeister
Do Humans Have Free Will? The Self, Ego Depletion Theory, Self Control & Willpower
Length 1 hr 21 min
Stephen Law
Could God be Evil? Belief in the Supernatural & The Evil God Challenge
Length 1 hr 19 min
Karl Friston
How does Death Shape Life? Mortal Computation & the Field of Diverse Intelligence
Length 1 hr 56 min
Kevin Mitchell
How Did Evolution Give Us Free Will? Free Agents & Cognitive Realism
Length 2 hr 1 min
Susan Blackmore
Did Religions Evolve To Exploit Us? God's Memes & Consciousness Delusionism
Length 58 min
Noam Chomsky
Do We Have Free Will? Moral Responsibility & The Meaning Of Life
Length 1 hr 21 min
Philip Goff
Is Everything Conscious? Panpsychism & The Purpose Of The Universe
Length 1 hr 40 min
Helen Yetter-Chappell
Is Consciousness Everything? Quasi-Berkeleyan Idealism Without God
Length 1 hr 28 min
Chris Frith
What Is The Function of Consciousness? The Evolutionary Purpose Of Conscious Minds
Length 1 hr 33 min
Iain McGilchrist
Why Are Our Brains Divided? Hemispheric Differences And Its Impact On The Mind
Length 1 hr 59 min
Patricia Churchland
Why Do We Have A Conscience? Moral Intuition & Eliminative Materialism
Length 1 hr 27 min
Gregg Caruso
Is Free Will Real? Hard Incompatibilism, Moral Luck & Rejecting Retributivism
Length 1 hr 58 min
Ralph Lewis
Can We Find Purpose Without God? Why We Care Even if the Universe Doesn't
Length 2 hr 7 min
Lisa Feldman Barrett
How Do Brains Work? How Emotions are Made & the Derivation of Meaning
Length 1 hr 1 min