‘Magic’ and our brains | Dr Iain McGilchrist Meets Sir Philip Pullman

This is part 2 of an exclusive How To Academy event. See part 3 here: • Science and the sacred...
Philip Pullman’s novels are a testament to the power of the human imagination and a celebration of our capacity for wonder. It is an ethos shared by the neuroscientist Iain McGilchrist, whose book The Master and His Emissary was that rare thing: a bestselling classic of modern philosophy with genuine relevance to human life. In this event, the two men will come together to explore questions of the mind, psychiatry, and imagination. It is an unmissable conversation for anyone who feels disenchanted with the contemporary way of living and seeks a richer, more humanitarian, more enlightened way of being.
Dr Iain McGilchrist is a psychiatrist, philosopher and literary scholar. He is a Quondam Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford, a Fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatrists and of the Royal Society of Arts, as well as a former Clinical Director of the Bethlem Royal & Maudsley Hospital, London. His previous book, The Master and His Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World reached international recognition and acclaim and has placed him as one of the greatest thinkers and philosophers of our time. His new book is The Matter With Things. On CZcams, his appearances on RSA (on the Divided Brain), Perspectiva (with Jordan Peterson), Jordan B Peterson (on a Brain divided and The master and his emissary), Tom Bilyeu (Everything you know about the brain is wrong), Russell Brand (Left vs Right - is your brain controlled by corrupt systems), Sam Harris (the divided mind), The Weekend University (Matter and Consciousness), Theories of everything with Curt Jaimungal (on Existence, being, the limits of reason and language), Rebel Wisdom (on certainty and flow), Awakening with Russell (why do we all perceive reality differently?) and Ralston College (The coincidence of opposites) - have amassed millions of views combined.
Sir Philip Pullman's first children’s book, Count Karlstein, was published in 1982. To date, he has published thirty-three books, read by children and adults alike. His most famous work is the His Dark Materials trilogy - recently adapted by HBO. These books have been honoured by several prizes including the Carnegie Medal, the Guardian Children’s Book Prize, and (for The Amber Spyglass) the Whitbread Book of the Year Award. He was knighted in the 2019 New Year’s Honours List for Services to Literature.
Hannah MacInnes is a broadcaster and journalist. Alongside hosting How To Academy’s live programmes and podcast, she presents a cultural show on Times Radio and interviews on-stage at a number of other major literary events. She is the host of The Klosters Forum Podcast series and has written for the Radio Times, the Evening Standard and TLS. Before going freelance she worked for 8 years at BBC Newsnight, as Planning Editor and as a Producer / Filmmaker.

[@Obilio222]

Wonderful conversation, thank you! The last part reminds me of a US poet, “I was so much older then, I’m younger than that now.” :)

[@mapstoinsight3252]

To “learn to do consciously what we previously did unconsciously” through our imagination, one must abandon familiar frames of reference.
Really good poetry does this for us; it gives us a new lens through which to see & contemplate our world, and it does so often through using familiar words in unfamiliar ways or connecting images that on the surface appear to have no connection.
There is no formula per-say, but the lens-the one agreed on & connecting poet & reader alike-through which to see anew is essential. It’s very much a willingness, a desire to see beyond the immediate and gaze on the beautiful (however tragic or uplifting).

[@maxsterling8203]

Fantastic

[@lauramo2616]

This is amazing. After rewatching His Dark Materials I went down the rabbit hole of watching Philip Pullman videos. This man is a true gem. What Iain describes as “imagination” I would think is the same as what Freud described as dream-thoughts.. really fascinating stuff… thank you for this interview!

[@davioustube]

14:09 Innocence and Experience

[@The_Kettle_Black]

thank you part 3 is set to private??

[@HowToAcademyScience]

Hi there, Part 3 will be released on Thursday!

[@The_Kettle_Black]

@@HowToAcademyScience thank you!

[@esser7678]

@@HowToAcademyScience part 1?