Episodes

9 items

What’s the ultimate stuff of reality? What’s absolutely fundamental and non-reducible — the fewest number of categories within which every specific thing, of every...

video

What Exists II?

Episode 06

Season 19

26:48

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Cover image for Critical Realism in Science & Theology

What’s the world as it really is? Not filtered, not represented, not interpreted. Bedrock reality. Meaning and purpose, if any, depends on it. But can we know if what we...

video

Critical Realism in Science & Theology

Episode 02

Season 18

26:48

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Lots of things exist. But what’s truly fundamental? The challenge is to discern the minimum number of basic categories that explains the entirety of existence.

video

What Exists?

Episode 10

Season 17

26:48

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Why does one thing ‘cause’ another thing? Is causation fundamental, primitive, real—not reducible to, or explainable by, anything else? Or is causation a human...

video

What is Causation?

Episode 11

Season 15

26:47

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Everyone wants to know ‘Truth’. But what is Truth? People argue about Truth; people fight about Truth—consider politics and religion. But what is the basic meaning of...

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What is Truth?

Episode 05

Season 14

26:47

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Is the physical world real? Or an expression of consciousness. Is consciousness real? Or an illusion? Is there a spirit world? Many dismiss anything other than the physical.

video

What Things are Real?

Episode 08

Season 13

26:47

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Cover image for Does Metaphysics Reveal Reality?

Some think metaphysics is ancient nonsense; others that it’s the bizarre occult. Real metaphysics asks the most profound questions, seeks the deepest truths.

video

Does Metaphysics Reveal Reality?

Episode 08

Season 09

26:46

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Cover image for Can Metaphysics Discover Surprises?

How does metaphysics contribute to our understanding of the world? It asks the most profound questions: What kinds of things exist? How does causality work? Sound too...

video

Can Metaphysics Discover Surprises?

Episode 06

Season 06

26:46

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Cover image for What Things Really Exist?

When you ask “what things really exist”, and you think deeply about this universal probe, you see the whole world anew. It’s such a simple question; how...

video

What Things Really Exist?

Episode 04

Season 03

26:46

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Topic Series

18 items

Cover image for How does Metaphysics Reveal Reality?

Some think metaphysics is ancient nonsense; others that it’s the bizarre occult. How does modern metaphysics contribute to our understanding of the world? It asks the...

playlist

How does Metaphysics Reveal Reality?

Topic Series

6 videos

55:30

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Metaphysics asks the most profound questions, seeks the deepest truths, examines the most general features of existence. What really exists? What’s fundamental?...

playlist

Can Metaphysics Discover Surprises?

Topic Series

43:09

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In a ‘billiard-ball world’ of Newtonian science, causation was obvious—things had to touch each other in space and a cause always had to precede an effect. But...

playlist

What is Causation?

Topic Series

10 videos

1:14:56

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Cover image for Realism vs. Anti-realism

What are anti-realists and why do they deny objective reality? What we know of the world must come through our senses and be processed by our brains. Both can be unreliable;...

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Realism vs. Anti-realism

Topic Series

9 videos

1:10:55

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Cover image for Critical Realism in Science and Theology

Does what we discover in science reflect what really exists in the world? Can science access external, independent, ultimate reality? “Realists” say Yes;...

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Critical Realism in Science and Theology

Topic Series

7 videos

1:03:30

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Cover image for Critical Realism: Ernan McMullin Tribute

Does what we discover in science reflect what really exists in the world? Can science access external, independent, ultimate reality? “Realists” say yes;...

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Critical Realism: Ernan McMullin Tribute

Topic Series

5 videos

40:11

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Is the physical world real? Some claim that the physical world is only an expression of consciousness. Is the mental world real? Some claim that human consciousness is an...

playlist

What Things are Real?

Topic Series

4 videos

42:10

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When you ask what things really exist, and you think deeply about this probe to apprehend what is out there, you see the whole world anew. What are the most general...

playlist

What Things Really Exist?

Topic Series

7 videos

1:12:10

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Cover image for What Are the Things of Existence?

How many different kinds of ‘things’ are there? What are the fewest number of things that can characterize existence and do so exhaustively? In other words, what...

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What Are the Things of Existence?

Topic Series

6 videos

56:23

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Cover image for All Reality Consists of What Things?

We look around and see innumerable things and to each we give a separate name. But most things are composites, made up of smaller, more fundamental things. So digging down to...

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All Reality Consists of What Things?

Topic Series

6 videos

49:25

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Lots of things exist. But what is so absolutely fundamental in that it cannot be further reduced into anything more fundamental, but other things that exist can be reduced to...

playlist

What Exists? (Part 1)

Topic Series

5 videos

41:10

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Lots of things exist. But what is so absolutely fundamental in that it cannot be further reduced into anything more fundamental, but other things that exist can be reduced to...

playlist

What Exists? (Part 2)

Topic Series

7 videos

1:03:41

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Lots of things exist. But what is so absolutely fundamental in that it cannot be further reduced into anything more fundamental, but other things that exist can be reduced to...

playlist

What Exists? (Part 3)

Topic Series

8 videos

58:14

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Cover image for Fundamental Reality: Essence & Existence (Part I)

What is the ultimate essence of all things? What is ultimate existence, the ground of being? What are transcendence, oneness, ineffability, causation? What is Brahman in...

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Fundamental Reality: Essence & Existence (Part I)

Topic Series

5 videos

43:45

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Cover image for Fundamental Reality: Essence & Existence (Part II)

What is the ultimate essence of all things? What is ultimate existence, the ground of being? What are transcendence, oneness, ineffability, causation? What is Brahman in...

playlist

Fundamental Reality: Essence & Existence (Part II)

Topic Series

5 videos

42:34

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Cover image for Fundamental Reality: Essence & Existence (Part III)

What is the ultimate essence of all things? What is ultimate existence, the ground of being? What are transcendence, oneness, ineffability, causation? What is Brahman in...

playlist

Fundamental Reality: Essence & Existence (Part III)

Topic Series

4 videos

30:11

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Cover image for Metaphysics: Essence and Existence (Part I)

How do Buddhism, Chinese traditions, and Hinduism address the ultimate essence of all things, the ground of being? What are transcendence, oneness, interconnectivity,...

playlist

Metaphysics: Essence and Existence (Part I)

Topic Series

4 videos

43:46

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Cover image for Metaphysics: Essence and Existence (Part II)

How do Buddhism, Chinese traditions, and Hinduism address the ultimate essence of all things, the ground of being? What are transcendence, oneness, interconnectivity,...

playlist

Metaphysics: Essence and Existence (Part II)

Topic Series

5 videos

35:55

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Contributors

84 items

Scott Aaronson

Professor of Computer Science; Director, Quantum Information Center, University of Texas at Austin

Anthony Aguirre

Faggin Presidential Chair for the Physics of Information, UC Santa Cruz

Imran Aijaz

Associate Professor of Philosophy, University of Michigan-Dearborn

David Albert

Professor of Philosophy and Director of the M.A. Program in The Philosophical Foundations of Physics, Columbia University

Mark Balaguer

Professor of Philosophy, California State University, Los Angeles

Sean Carroll

Research Professor of Physics, Caltech

Paul Davies

Regents' Professor, Arizona State University

William Dembski

Founding Senior Fellow, Center for Science and Culture, Discovery Institute

George Ellis

Emeritus Distinguished Professor of Complex Systems, University of Cape Town

Stuart Kauffman

Professor Emeritus of Biochemistry, Univesity of Pennsylvania; Santa Fe Institute

Tim Maudlin

Professor of Philosophy, New York University

Don Page

Professor of Physics, University of Alberta

Roger Penrose

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

Max Tegmark

Professor of Physics, MIT

Jeff Tollaksen

Professor, Co-director, Institute of Quantum Studies, Chapman University

Steven Weinberg

Nobel Laureate in Physics; Professor Emeritus, University of Texas at Austin

Frank Wilczek

Nobel Laureate in Physics; Templeton Prize recipient; Emeritus Professor of Physics, MIT; Distinguished Professor in Physics, Arizona State University

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Metaphysics of Cosmos

Episodes

What Exists II?

Critical Realism in Science & Theology

What Exists?

Topic Series

How does Metaphysics Reveal Reality?

Can Metaphysics Discover Surprises?

What is Causation?

Contributors

Scott Aaronson

Anthony Aguirre

Imran Aijaz

David Albert