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Sexual questions abound. What is “normal” sexual behavior in light of diverse sexual variations? LGBTQ+ issues? Is sex in animal models relevant for human sexuality? A...

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Can Philosophy Discern Sex and Gender?

Episode 7

Season 27

26:47

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Humanity’s future is now framed by artificial intelligence (AI) and increasing interventions in the body to enhance features and functions. This is transhumanism....

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What Does Transhumanism Foreshadow?

Episode 8

Season 25

26:47

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Two kinds of questions probe evolution vs. religion. The first explores discrepancies, even contradictions, between the science of evolution and the beliefs of religion. The...

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Evolution vs. Religion: Anything New?

Episode 6

Season 27

26:47

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What can evolution reveal about the developmental history of thinking and feeling? How did cognition and emotion (affect) co-develop over evolutionary time? Can evolution...

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How did Cognition and Emotion Evolve?

Episode 5

Season 27

26:47

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Do we have free will? After so many centuries of debate by so many great thinkers, can we still make progress in answering this question? That’s the goal of the Big...

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Big Questions in Free Will Documentary

1:37:06

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What is “human” nature? While human beings are animals, we believe we are special, radically different from other animals. Why? What traits are unique to humans? Are we...

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What is Human Nature?

Episode 4

Season 27

26:47

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Celebrate National AI Week

Celebrate national AI week with a playlist full of new videos on artificial intelligence and transhumanism.

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Submissions Open: Berggruen Prize Essay Competition 2025

The Berggruen Institute calls for original essays on the theme of Consciousness, one of philosophy’s most enduring questions.

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In Memoriam: Holmes Rolston III

Remembering philosopher Holmes Rolston III.

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Mel Rogers: Rogue Testament

Read an excerpt from Mel Rogers' debut novel, "Rogue Testament".

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Closer To Conscious: The Mind-Body Solution Podcast

Robert Lawrence Kuhn talks consciousness on the Mind-Body Solution podcast with Tevlin Naidu.

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Robert Lawrence Kuhn on Leadership and Innovation

Learn about Robert Lawrence Kuhn's multifaceted career and how he approaches life's big questions.

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Some scientists claim that the universe did not have a beginning. Some theologians contend that the universe did not need a beginning. Yet the universe is expanding, and so...

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Did the Universe Begin?

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9 videos

1:16:22

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Can machines become conscious? Can human minds live forever in digital form? Explore the radical frontier where artificial intelligence meets the mysteries of mind and...

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AI and Transhumanism: AI Consciousness & Virtual Immortality

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5 videos

1:03:21

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What happens after we die? Is there life after death? If so, what kind of life? From heaven and hell to systems and cycles of reincarnation, we explore Hinduism, Buddhism,...

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Death, Life After Death, Reincarnation (Part I)

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5 videos

48:47

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Cosmos and consciousness seem utterly different, cosmos encompassing the vast universe, consciousness emerging from tiny brains. Yet consciousness is the basis of religion,...

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Why Explore Cosmos and Consciousness?

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1:15:14

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Explore our vast universe: its size, scope, beginning, expansion, ending. How did it all happen? How does it all work? Where is it all going? We target the mysteries.

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Best of Cosmology

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10 videos

4:27:45

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What is real? What is nothing? Why is there “something” rather than “nothing”? Does the nonphysical world exist? These are the ultimate questions of reality, the...

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Ultimate Questions of Existence

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12 videos

5:21:15

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What is consciousness? Can brain explain mind? What are persons? Do persons have souls? Life after death? What is free will?

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Intimate discussions with leading scientists, philosophers, and creative thinkers on hundreds of topics related to cosmos, consciousness, and meaning.

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Informal, free-flowing conversations with leading scientists, philosophers, and creative thinkers.

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All seasons of the acclaimed television series.

How can philosophy advance biology? How can biology influence philosophy? In this in-depth series on Philosophy of Biology, featuring pioneers and leaders of this burgeoning...

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Season 27

Season

8 videos

3:34:16

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How do Eastern traditions address the Big Questions of existence and sentience—Closer To Truth’s pillar categories of Cosmos, Life, Consciousness, Meaning? How do...

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Season 24

Season

2:13:55

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In this first series on Philosophy of Biology, Closer to Truth explores the challenges and implications of evolution.

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Season 23

Season

5 videos

2:13:54

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To seek the foundations of reality we look through the prism of mathematics. Mathematics is the universal language anyone, anywhere, can appreciate. We ask profound...

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Season 22

Season

10 videos

4:28:34

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Science explores how the world works. Breakthroughs drive science, challenging conventional wisdom, changing ways of thinking. What are Breakthroughs in science?

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Season 21

Season

13 videos

5:48:11

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Art Seeking Understanding: Art delights us, but how and why? Explore art and cognitive science, philosophy, history, theology, and more.

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Season 20

Season

10 videos

4:27:50

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Philosophical inquiries including the anthropic principle; fine-tuning in physics and cosmology; and atonement, salvation, and incarnation.

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Season 19

Season

13 videos

5:48:24

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Are there multiple universes? What is extended mind? What causes consciousness? Challenges of analytic theology? If God, what’s evolution?

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Season 18

Season

13 videos

5:48:20

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How did the universe begin? What exists? What are the risks of scientific knowledge? Can metaphysics discern God, and what or who is God?

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Season 17

Season

13 videos

5:48:24

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Cosmos: Doomsday argument? Philosophy & science? Consciousness: Brain alone? Brains go bad? Language? Meaning: How miracles? God fallacies?

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Season 16

Season

13 videos

5:48:24

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Cosmos: Reason? Implications? Consciousness: ESP mean? ESP work? Dualism? Ultimate reality? Meaning: Speculating about God? God intervenes?

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Season 15

Season

13 videos

5:48:13

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Cosmos: Information? Truth? Multiverse? Consciousness: Science of consciousness? Mind heal body? Meaning: Blame God for evil? God not free?

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Season 14

Season

13 videos

5:48:07

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Cosmos: Ever end? Ultimate reality? Consciousness: Death final? Free will for moral responsibility? Meaning: What causes religious belief?

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Season 13

Season

13 videos

5:48:03

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Cosmos: Beginning? What is Nothing? Why anything? Consciousness: Personal identity persist? Sleep? Human uniqueness? Meaning: New atheism?

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Season 12

Season

13 videos

5:47:50

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Cosmos: What is time? Infinite cosmos? Consciousness: How brains work? Free will illusion? Meaning: Alternative Gods? Resurrection? Hell?

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Season 11

Season

13 videos

5:47:52

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Cosmos: Religiously ambiguous? General principles? Consciousness: Illusion? Dreams? Belief systems? Meaning: What is God? Arguing God?

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Season 10

Season

13 videos

5:47:56

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Cosmos: Life inevitable? Inflation? Complexity? Consciousness: Alien intelligence? Meaning: Creator God? God all powerful? God fallacies?

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Season 09

Season

13 videos

5:47:56

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Cosmos: Beyond physics? Cosmic purpose? Consciousness: ESP clues? Keep identity? Souls? Meaning: God’s nature? Evil necessary? Immortality?

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Season 08

Season

13 videos

5:47:51

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Cosmos: SpaceTime? Science limits? Consciousness: How brains conscious? Survive death? Meaning: God vs science? Miracles? God & free will?

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Season 07

Season

13 videos

5:47:55

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Cosmos: Cosmic structure? Quantum strange? Consciousness: ESP spirit? Brain free will? Meaning: God all knowing? Necessary? Agnosticism?

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Season 06

Season

13 videos

5:47:54

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Cosmos: Far future? Ultimate Questions? Consciousness: Human brains? Mind? Personal identity? Meaning: God a Person? Religion without God?

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Season 05

Season

13 videos

5:47:56

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Cosmos: Expanding universe? Extra dimensions? Laws? Consciousness: All material? Angels/demons? Meaning: God’s judgment? God create evil?

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Season 04

13 videos

5:47:55

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Featured Topic Series

Cover image for Universe: Beginning, Vast Size, End

Did the universe have a beginning? What was it like? Will our universe end? How? How big is the cosmos? Does it go on forever, and what would that mean? How many universes...

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Universe: Beginning, Vast Size, End

Curated

5:48:03

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How will artificial intelligence and transhumanist technologies transform our moral values, social structures, and sense of self? What are the moral dilemmas posed by...

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AI & Transhumanism: Morality & Society

Curated

8 videos

1:39:48

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The Global Philosophy of Religion Project, in partnership with the University of Birmingham, aims to make the philosophy of religion a truly global field by promoting the...

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The Global Philosophy of Religion Project

Project

24 videos

22:46:58

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Push boundaries. Discern the deep essence of existence. Search the foundations of reality. Imagine all that may exist in physical realms beyond current understanding. Seek to...

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Asking Ultimate Questions

Topic Series

12 videos

1:29:44

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We ask the broadest and most fundamental questions about biology, seeking meaning, purpose and implications of biological phenomena and systems. Questions include: life,...

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What is Philosophy of Biology?

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5 videos

39:46

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Closer To Truth is highlighting remarkable women in philosophy and physics/cosmology.

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Women in Philosophy and Physics/Cosmology

Curated, Topic Series

11 videos

1:38:00

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Is Mathematics Invented or Discovered?

Episode 09

Season 04

26:46

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Cover image for Janna Levin on Black Holes and Spacetime

Janna Levin discusses black holes, spacetime, and other cosmological phenomena.

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Janna Levin on Black Holes and Spacetime

CTT Chat

42:46

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What is free will? Do we have free will? The ‘Big Questions in Free Will’ project tackles these issues in a multi-year study. In Part I, scientists and philosophers...

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Big Questions in Free Will I?

Episode 10

Season 14

26:47

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Extra dimensions-beyond length, width, height-seem the stuff of science fiction. What would extra dimensions be like? Is time the fourth dimension? Could deep reality be so...

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Are there Extra Dimensions?

Episode 06

Season 04

26:45

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Death is the ultimate defeat. No matter our successes, we are all doomed to suffer the final failure. But some claim that death is not final. Can the defeat be defeated?

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Is Death Final?

Episode 06

Season 13

26:47

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Some scientists take time travel seriously. Should you? What does time travel reveal about the nature of space and time and the laws of physics under extreme conditions?

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Is Time Travel Possible?

Episode 06

Season 02

26:46

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Featured Contributors

Roger Penrose

Nobel Prize in Physics; Professor Emeritus of Mathematics, University of Oxford

Sabine Hossenfelder

Physicist and Science Writer, Munich Center for Mathematical Philosophy

Sean Carroll

Research Professor of Physics, Caltech

Michio Kaku

Professor of Physics, City College of New York; Futurist; Author

David Chalmers

Professor of Philosophy and Co-director, Center for Mind, Brain, and Consciousness, New York University

Sarah Coakley

Norris-Hulse Emeritus Professor of Divinity, University of Cambridge; Anglican priest

V.S. Ramachandran

Distinguished Professor; Director, Center for Brain and Cognition, UC San Diego

Paul Davies

Regents' Professor, Arizona State University

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Recent News

Celebrate National AI Week

Submissions Open: Berggruen Prize Essay Competition 2025

In Memoriam: Holmes Rolston III

Mel Rogers: Rogue Testament

Closer To Conscious: The Mind-Body Solution Podcast

Robert Lawrence Kuhn on Leadership and Innovation

Curated Playlists

Did the Universe Begin?

AI and Transhumanism: AI Consciousness & Virtual Immortality

Death, Life After Death, Reincarnation (Part I)

Why Explore Cosmos and Consciousness?

Best of Cosmology

Ultimate Questions of Existence

What are you interested in?

Which formats do you prefer?

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Universe: Beginning, Vast Size, End

AI & Transhumanism: Morality & Society

The Global Philosophy of Religion Project

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Is Mathematics Invented or Discovered?

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Sabine Hossenfelder

Sean Carroll

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