• Home
• »
• Braintrust by Patricia Churchland

Patricia Churchland and her new book, Braintrust

Patricia Churchland is one of the most interesting public intellectuals of our time. Since the publication in 1986 of her seminal book “Neurophilosophy”, which began to explain the neural underpinnings of an enormous tradition of philosophy, Churchland has been a major force in helping us understand how neuroscience explains complicated issues like morality.

The Science Network interviewed Churchland along with her husband Paul, a philosopher and emeritus professor at the University of California, San Diego in 2006. It was one of the first conversations posted on the website. She has presented at The Science Network’s Beyond Belief conferences, debated with Sam Harris, is a member of The Science Network advisory board, a professor emerita at the University of California, San Diego, and an adjunct professor at the Salk Institute.

Her new book “Braintrust” explains how neuroscience informs morality. Recently The Science Network recorded a conversation about these issues at Columbia University between Roger Bingham, Director of The Science Network, Jesse Prinz of City University of New York. Bingham followed up with Churchland for a more in depth discussion about "Braintrust" as a part of TSN's Science Studio series. Finally, TSN filmed a more informal presentation Churchland gave about “Braintrust” at Warwick’s bookstore in La Jolla, California.

Braintrust: A public conversation about Morality and the Brain
with Patricia Churchland, Jesse Prinz, and Roger Bingham at Columbia University

 The Science Studio with Patricia Churchland

Braintrust: A public conversation about Morality and the Brain
The Science Reader with Patricia Churchland at Warwick's

The Churchlands are an astonishing family. We encourage you to watch interviews with Patricia Churchland and her son Mark Churchland, a neuroscientist at Stanford University, and with her daughter Anne, who runs a lab at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.

Churchland spoke at the initial 2009 Origins event at Arizona State University and “The Great Debate - Can Science Tell Us Right From Wrong?” with psychologist Steven Pinker, author Sam Harris, physicist Lawrence Krauss, philosopher Simon Blackburn, bioethicist Peter Singer and The Science Network’s Roger Bingham.

Additional videos include a conversation between philosopher and public intellectual AC Grayling and Lord Martin Rees, immediate past president of the Royal Society. Churchland interviewed Walter Sinnott-Armstrong at Oxford University while attending and speaking at the “Science and Religious Conflict Conference” in May 2010. Other attendees included Richard Dawkins and Owen Flanagan.

For a full listing of Patricia Churchland’s appearances on The Science Network can be found here.