Love & Philosophy

Beyond Dichotomy | Andrea Hiott
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It's reasonable to care. Exploring philosophical, scientific, technological & poetic spaces beyond either/or bounds. From the heart. Deeply researched. Mostly unscripted. Hosted by philosopher and cognitive scientist Andrea Hiott. A project with Making Ways. Buy the book Holding Paradox: The Navigational Approach to Mind and Consciousness. And join the Substack.

  1. 5D AGO

    #84 There is No Average Individual: The Great Psychology Delusion with Marek McGann

    Send a love message The Great Psychology Delusion: Why the Mean Misleads and Pluralism Matters Read the book here. This is an academic psychology-focused episode with lecturer Marek McGann, whose work spans enactive cognitive science, embodiment, politics, feminist philosophy, and STS. Andrea and Marek discuss his co-authored book The Great Psychology Delusion with Craig Speelman. McGann explains why “delusion” fits psychology’s persistence in treating long-critiqued assumptions as valid, especially the aggregation delusion: averaging group data and applying it to individuals despite human non-interchangeability and change over time, linked to the ergodic assumption and ergodic theorem conditions rarely met in human behavior. They discuss how averaging can create misleading “laws” (e.g., power law of learning), the research–practice gap in clinical work, psychology’s history and method-driven identity, and the need for disciplined, pluralistic, scale-aware science that better integrates perspectives and practitioner expertise. 00:00 Show Intro And Guest 01:23 Book Thesis And Stakes 02:24 Aggregation Delusion Explained 03:54 Research Practice Gap 04:49 More Detailed Book Summary 07:47 Averaging Artifacts And Ergodicity 09:29 Careful Critique Not Anti Psychology 11:06 Warm Reorientation Sendoff 11:51 Conversation Begins 15:17 Why Call It Delusion 20:11 How Psychology Became Method Led 31:08 Aggregation Delusion Deep Dive 33:35 Ergodic Fallacy in Humans 35:21 Scale Slippage and Delusion 37:59 Research Practice Gap Explained 41:01 Clinician Code Switching 42:46 Many Scales of Mind 43:57 MRI Averaging Pitfalls 48:32 Method Silos and Identities 52:43 Care, Careers, and Canalization 55:27 GPS Model for Pluralism 01:00:33 Pluralism Not Relativism 01:02:58 Why Marek Cares 01:06:06 Psychology’s Moment of Change 01:06:56 Closing Thanks and Wrap Marek McGann has been a lecturer in the Department of Psychology since 2005. His principal research is theoretical work on the enactive approach to cognitive science, which examines the mind more as something we do rather than something we have. This is also related to ecological approaches to psychology, which explore how behaviour and mental life can be examined by looking at what your head is in, rather than what is in your head. He also has a related interest in critical considerations of theory and scientific practice in psychology more broadly. Marek co-convenes the ENSO Seminars, a series of online seminars with researchers from enactive and ecological cognitive science. The paper Andrea mentions: Facing Life Buy Holding Paradox: The Navigational Approach to Mind and Consciousness by Andrea Hiott Sign up for Support the show Buy Holding Paradox: The Navigational Approach to Mind and Consciousness by Andrea Hiott Sign up for Making Ways newsletter and projects. Please rate and review with love. YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Substack.

    1h 7m
  2. BONUS Performance of your life: Is acting inherent to being human? Sophie Fiennes, Declan Donnellan, Nick Ormerod, Macbeth

    APR 10 ·  BONUS

    BONUS Performance of your life: Is acting inherent to being human? Sophie Fiennes, Declan Donnellan, Nick Ormerod, Macbeth

    Send a love message This is an impromptu bonus episode previewing the NYC premiere of Sophie Fiennes’s documentary film Acting, which follows the celebrated theatre company Cheek by Jowl through their production of Macbeth. Andrea is speaking with her this week in NYC. Andrea introduces the ideas of director Declan Donnellan, whose book The Actor in the Space (2024) helps us get some insight into the film.  Subjects: the philosophy of performance to spatial cognition, presence, and what it means to be truly alive on stage — or anywhere. Perhaps this is a good moment to revisit the themes of Macbeth. Come Saturday April 11th at 6:45pm for the film and Q &A with Sophie Fiennes (and Andrea): ️tickets at https://quadcinema.com/film/acting/ Declan Donnellan: "Human beings are actors. It is hardwired into our DNA — from toddlers playing make-believe to old-age pensioners sharing jokes in the pub. We need to perform. It’s an essential part of being human. Acting starts early. We use it to develop our relationship with our mothers. We watch her and wonder, mirror her smiling, repeat the sounds she makes. We learn things by performing for her, and she performs for us. Does that mean we are lying to each other? Of course not. Performance is woven into the fabric of our lives. It’s as natural and important to us as breathing. Performance is not merely a habit that humans keep repeating across millennia, languages and cultures. It is more fundamental than that. Performance is what it is to be human. It is the operating system for life." The episode previews a bonus conversation with filmmaker Sophie Fiennes ahead of a screening of her film "Acting," about the London theater company Cheek by Jowl, co-founded by director Declan Donnellan and designer Nick Ormerod. Andrea introduces Donnellan’s ideas from his books "The Actor and the Target" and "The Actor in the Space," emphasizing that performance is fundamental to being human and that acting depends on creating the conditions—especially the space and context—where a character can exist and feel alive, rather than forcing meaning or emotion. The script contrasts older, space-oriented filmmaking with faster kinetic editing, highlights the importance of giving audiences room for their own cognition, and includes clips from Macbeth rehearsal discussing dread, avoidance, and the challenge of convincing the audience. It ends with details about attending the New York screening and future posting of a longer conversation. All links to books and notes are here. 00:00 Love and Dread 00:11 Macbeth in Fragments 01:00 Creative Risk and Space 02:59 Audience Cognition and Care 03:55 Art Beyond Meaning 04:58 Bonus Episode Intro 06:39 Performing Everyday Life 08:11 Who Is Declan Donnellan 10:25 Performance as Human OS 12:12 Why Acting Is Hard 14:20 Alive in Rehearsal 16:24 Space That Supports Life 18:30 Care and Plugging In 21:43 Avoidance and Reacting 24:44 Philosophy and Presence 26:34 Macbeth Actor Dialogue Support the show Buy Holding Paradox: The Navigational Approach to Mind and Consciousness by Andrea Hiott Sign up for Making Ways newsletter and projects. Please rate and review with love. YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Substack.

    27 min
  3. #83 Wisdom Gates and Serious Play: Paradox, Care and Discovery with Puzzle-Maker Jasen Robillard

    APR 7

    #83 Wisdom Gates and Serious Play: Paradox, Care and Discovery with Puzzle-Maker Jasen Robillard

    Send a love message  Holding Paradox Through Serious Play: Can serious play be a portal to wisdom?  This is an episode about puzzles and care. Andrea has a conversation with puzzle maker Jason Robillard (StumpCraft) about how puzzles cultivate new ways of being and seeing, holding paradox by repeatedly joining opposites only to realize they were never quite opposites but mirror-like pieces of a coherent whole. Robillard describes his wooden, laser-cut puzzles built from Canadian fine art, with uniquely drawn organic pieces, symbolic elements, sensory “shock,” and sometimes multiple valid placements that challenge assumptions of a single solution. He connects puzzling to embodied experience, attention, OODA loops, cognitive biases, and navigating complexity through “alternating base camps” and Goldilocks destabilization, the metamodern idea of 'serious play', relating this to career upheavals and identity change. The conversation emphasizes care as community glue and highlights values embedded in his work—curiosity, creativity, integrity, and generosity—plus a resonance with David Whyte’s poem “Start Close In.” 00:00 Paradox Through Play 02:36 Podcast Intro Puzzles Theme 07:54 Meet Jason And His Work 09:20 Puzzles Holding Paradox 11:38 Designing Artful Wooden Puzzles 14:47 Embodied Senses And Touch 16:58 Career Shift Into Puzzles 23:24 Serious Play And Homo Ludens 25:50 Moving Childhood And Safety 31:57 Base Camps And Destabilization 34:30 Polarity Recipes Beyond Flatland 38:47 Designing Paradox Puzzles 39:48 Many Solutions Mindset 42:54 Puzzles as Conversation 47:53 Liminal Times Need Puzzles 56:00 Sensemaking and OODA Loops 01:00:22 Home Gifts and Community 01:03:17 Four Values in Design 01:11:29 Start Closer In Practice 01:13:39 Care Belonging and Vulnerability 01:18:52 Where to Find Jason 01:19:57 Closing Poem Reading StumpCraft Amazing Instagram Photos and Videos of Games Jasen’s writings: Releasing the Muse Jasen on LinkedIn Metamodern influences: Serious Play OODA loop (observe, orient, decide, act) Homo Ludens Jasen Robillard was always a closet creative who long denied the creative muses, focusing instead on a “secure” engineering career until it dried up in 2017. As is often the case, necessity proved to be the mother of invention… In 2016, Jasen started designing and prototyping his whimsical puzzles which were inspired by other wooden laser-cut puzzles he had enjoyed years earlier. He noted a lack of wooden puzzle availability in Canada, as well as a severe lack of deliberate focus on Canadian fine art. After a year of playful prototyping and a clear end to his engineering-focused career, Jasen decided to launch Stu Support the show Buy Holding Paradox: The Navigational Approach to Mind and Consciousness by Andrea Hiott Sign up for Making Ways newsletter and projects. Please rate and review with love. YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Substack.

    1h 21m

  4. MAR 27

    #82 Philosophy of the Heart with Nobel Peace Prize Nominee Scilla Elworthy

    Send a love message Facing Reality with Clear Eyes but without Desperation: Scilla Elworthy on Listening with the Heart to Transform Conflict  Three-time Nobel Peace Prize nominee Scilla Elworthy reflects on 70 years of work with conflict and war, beginning at age 12 after seeing tanks in Budapest and being sent to help concentration camp survivors. She describes how others’ suffering “hit” her heart and led her to action in Algeria, the Congo, and South Africa, where she worked on starvation relief, shipped milk powder, and supported education, noting the central role of women in community resilience. Elworthy emphasizes “listening with the heart” to discern what people truly need beyond narratives, and explains how turning to the heart helps release harsh self-criticism. She also shares practical self-nourishment through nature and gardening, and recounts using humanizing, vulnerable moments—like discussing children—to soften high-stakes meetings, including military dialogues in China, as a way to build connection and “power with” others. "Triple nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for her work with Oxford Research Group to develop effective dialogue between nuclear weapons policy-makers worldwide and their critics from 1983-2003. Founded Peace Direct in 2002, awarded the Niwano Peace Prize in 2003, the Luxembourg Peace Prize in 2020, the GOI Peace Award in 2023. Founded The Business Plan for Peace  based on her latest books - The Business Plan for Peace: Building a World Without War (2017), The Mighty Heart: how to transform conflict (2020), and The Mighty Heart in Action (2022)." Find all Scilla's work here. Kyla Scanlon's post mentioned here 00:00 Why We Still Kill 00:55 Action Over Apathy 01:07 Heart As Guide 01:39 Inner Critic Quieted 03:23 Podcast Introduction 07:03 Meet Scilla Elworthy 08:17 Tanks In Budapest 11:32 Early War Witnessing 14:33 Africa Conflict Journeys 17:47 Women Leading Change 19:52 Listening With Heart 22:29 Defining The Heart 25:31 Nature As Nourishment 29:35 Self Inspection To Embodiment 32:41 Taming The Inner Critic 34:04 Heart Led Self Compassion 35:54 Daring Diplomacy With Generals 36:49 Breaking The Ice With Humanness 42:48 Power With Vulnerability 47:24 Courage In The Moment 51:07 Love In The Garden 53:03 Closing Thanks And Future Fears 53:55 Listener Note And NYC Event Support the show Buy Holding Paradox: The Navigational Approach to Mind and Consciousness by Andrea Hiott Sign up for Making Ways newsletter and projects. Please rate and review with love. YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Substack.

    55 min

  5. MAR 18

    #81 Changing Minds, Metaphysics, and a Life in Analytic Philosophy with Janet Levin of USC

    Send a love message  Janet Levin on Physicalism, Zombies, and Changing Minds  Andrea hosts philosopher Janet Levin, newly retired after 40 years at USC and the department’s first tenure-track woman hire, to discuss a life in analytic philosophy and debates about mind and consciousness. Levin recounts stumbling into philosophy at the University of Chicago with Ted Cohen and later studying at MIT amid figures like Jerry Fodor, Noam Chomsky, and advisor Ned Block, and writing the Stanford Encyclopedia entry on functionalism. They contrast dualism and physicalism, explain metaphysics as inquiry into what exists and what is possible, and examine thought experiments such as Descartes’ arguments, Jackson’s knowledge argument, and Chalmers’ zombie case. Levin holds that our feelings and experiences are nothing over and above physical processes in the body, primarily the brain and central nervous system. The conversation closes on teaching, women in philosophy, and how openness, identity, and social forces affect willingness to change one’s mind and pursue truth. The Road Taken APA Talk Janet Levin Time Stamps: 00:00 Big Questions on Mind Change 01:47 Consciousness and Zombies 02:11 Welcome and Season Setup 03:22 Meet Janet Levin 07:31 Stumbling Into Philosophy 08:25 Why Minds Change Slowly 11:10 Synthetic Hippocampus and Extended Mind 12:57 Chicago Origins With Ted Cohen 18:02 MIT Era and Cognitive Revolution 22:01 From Behaviorism to Functionalism 26:17 Defining Physicalism and Supervenience 29:23 What Is the Mind Really 34:46 Cognitive Phenomenology Debate 37:31 What Metaphysics Studies 40:02 Classic Metaphysics Puzzles 43:15 Free Will and Determinism 46:34 Descartes and the Self 51:41 Conceivability and Zombie Arguments 58:40 Dualism’s Causation Problem 01:11:40 Type B Physicalism and Phenomenal Concepts 01:22:46 Water Lightning Mind 01:24:15 Identity Theory Pushback 01:27:51 Physicalism Explained Broadly 01:30:05 Phenomenal Concepts Introspection 01:32:17 Introspection As Skill 01:34:44 Defending Armchair Philosophy 01:37:22 Armchair Near Window 01:39:10 How Minds Change 01:43:55 Bias Identity And Windows 01:45:35 Women In Philosophy Shifts 01:50:28 Grad Training Mentorship 01:54:43 Teaching Confidence Bloomers 01:57:42 Love Retirement Future Questions 02:02:12 Host Outro Waymaking Giving Page Longer Show Notes and PDF of APA talk Janet Levin is Professor Emerita of Philosophy at the University of Southern California, where she was a longtime faculty member in the School of Philosophy. Her research focuses on epistemology, philosophy of mind, and philosophy of psychology. She earned her Ph.D. in philosophy from MIT and her B.A. from the University of Chicago.  Much of her work engages with one of the hardest problems in philosophy: how to account for the subjective, felt quality of conscious expe Support the show Buy Holding Paradox: The Navigational Approach to Mind and Consciousness by Andrea Hiott Sign up for Making Ways newsletter and projects. Please rate and review with love. YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Substack.

    2h 3m

  6. TRAILER

    Focusing on Care: Field Notes from Love and Philosophy

    Send a love message Love and Philosophy Beyond Dichotomy: Way Making, Care, and a New Season Andrea Hiott introduces Love and Philosophy Beyond Dichotomy and reflects on how a late-2023 research project became a podcast shaped by the guiding question of “way making”: how we find our way and how our way makes us. Drawing from philosophy, neuroscience, urban planning, ecology, biology, and navigability heuristics, she reframes life’s most crucial action as care, challenging fixed separations like ontology, epistemology, and axiology and emphasizing “constellation” or kaleidoscopic thinking over either/or dichotomies. She previews more rigorous work addressing questions about consciousness, representation, agency, self, mind, and technology through the lens of care, and mentions an upcoming book, Holding Paradox. A new season begins tomorrow March 17 with philosopher Janet Levine, releasing monthly episodes on the 17th, with show notes summarizing key ideas from the past two years. Give here: https://loveandphilosophy.com/giving-page Here is a link to the free Love & Philosophy Field Guide which comes to your email: https://making-ways.kit.com/01025445f6 or find it here: https://lovephilosophy.substack.com/p/focusing-on-care-field-notes-and 00:00 Welcome and Project Update 00:27 Waymaking as Core Question 01:03 Care as Life’s Foundation 03:48 Beyond Either Or Thinking 04:49 Books and Rigorous Philosophy Ahead 06:38 New Season Schedule and Thanks 07:15 Support the Work 07:43 The Hard Parts and Staying in Care 08:31 Show Notes Summary and Closing Good Wishes Field Notes at https://making-ways.kit.com/01025445f6 Support the show Buy Holding Paradox: The Navigational Approach to Mind and Consciousness by Andrea Hiott Sign up for Making Ways newsletter and projects. Please rate and review with love. YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Substack.

    9 min

  7. MAR 7 ·  BONUS

    Curiosity as a Practice and the Capacity to Connect with philosopher Perry Zurn (from the archive)

    Send a love message From the archive. Giving Page Andrea introduces an archive episode of Love and Philosophy featuring Perry Zurn, provost and associate professor of philosophy at American University about the book Curious Minds, coauthored with Dani Bassett. The intro previews an upcoming season launch with Janet Levin.  In the following conversation, Perry links curiosity to desire and love, arguing love can guide curiosity away from appropriative or objectifying inquiry. Zurn reframes curiosity not as an individual desire to fill information gaps but as a social practice and a “capacity to connect,” drawing on network science, complexity, and ecological aesthetics through the idea of “edge work.” Andrea and Perry discuss diverse styles of curiosity (busy body, hunter, dancer), curiosity’s role in shifting knowledge networks and methods, interdisciplinary resistance, and how breaking “edges” or “cracks” can be both destructive and creative, relating curiosity to hope and to more-than-human ecologies. Perry also describes the book’s artwork by Poonam Mistry and the dedication to children who ask whether things must be this way. Perry Zurn's website Curious Minds: Buy the book 00:00 Archive Season Preview 00:56 Why Curiosity Matters 03:19 Support And Welcome 03:53 Love And Curiosity 06:28 Origins Of Curious Minds 08:51 Curiosity As Practice 11:24 Edge Work Explained 15:18 Pioneering And Ethics 17:39 Complexity And The Brain 21:27 Styles Of Curiosity 26:08 Curiosity Across Divides 30:12 Walking As Knowing 32:31 Methods As Paths 36:34 Why New Paths Threaten 39:38 Dead Ends And Branching 40:33 Connectional Curiosity 42:48 More Than Human Curiosity 47:29 Cracks Hope And Destruction 51:35 Daring To Disturb 53:47 Art And Dedication 56:45 Closing Reflections Support the show Buy Holding Paradox: The Navigational Approach to Mind and Consciousness by Andrea Hiott Sign up for Making Ways newsletter and projects. Please rate and review with love. YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Substack.

    57 min

  8. FEB 17

    Love, Life and Logic: Another Dialectic with Hegelian scholar Karen Ng (from the archive)

    Send a love message  From the archive. First aired in Jan of 2025. A conversation about Hegel. Andrea talks with Karen Ng, Associate Professor of Philosophy at Vanderbilt University. The discussion delves into Hegel's ideas on contradiction, self-consciousness, life, and love, revealing how these notions are intricately intertwined in his work. Karen Ng brings forward her insights from her award-winning book 'Hegel's Concept of Life,' highlighting the radical nature of Hegel's thought and its relevance in modern contexts. Together, they explore deeply challenging philosophical concepts, making connections to contemporary issues in philosophy, environmental science, and cognitive theory. Join us as we navigate through Hegel’s complex ideas and uncover their enduring significance. 00:00 Hegel's Contradictory Philosophy 00:47 The Machine Model vs. Organic Unity 02:55 Introduction to Karen Ng and Her Work 06:40 Karen Ng's Journey with Hegel 16:17 Kant's Influence and the Copernican Turn 24:57 The Concept of Life and Internal Purposiveness 39:55 Exploring the Conditions for Intelligibility 40:27 Hegel's Radical Thought on Life and Meaning 41:44 Primitive and Sophisticated Sense-Making 42:09 Self-Conscious Forms of Life 42:37 Hegel's Connection Between Life and Meaning 43:56 The Speculative Identity Thesis 44:41 The Shock of Hegel's Absolute Idea 45:53 Thinking and Corporeality 47:51 The Radical Nature of Self-Conscious Life 48:52 Challenging Cartesian Dualism 49:38 Kant's Dualism and Moral Philosophy 50:37 The Speculative Identity Thesis and Cognition 52:42 The Radical Connection Between Life and Cognition 53:05 Contemporary Philosophers on Life and Mind 53:32 Hegel's Influence on Modern Thought 01:06:06 The Importance of Teaching Philosophy 01:07:46 Hegel's Thoughts on Love and Life 01:09:12 The Concept of Free Love 01:10:03 The Role of Love in Hegelian Philosophy 01:13:26 Concluding Thoughts on Hegel and Love Support the show Buy Holding Paradox: The Navigational Approach to Mind and Consciousness by Andrea Hiott Sign up for Making Ways newsletter and projects. Please rate and review with love. YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Substack.

    1h 15m
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About

It's reasonable to care. Exploring philosophical, scientific, technological & poetic spaces beyond either/or bounds. From the heart. Deeply researched. Mostly unscripted. Hosted by philosopher and cognitive scientist Andrea Hiott. A project with Making Ways. Buy the book Holding Paradox: The Navigational Approach to Mind and Consciousness. And join the Substack.

Information

  • Creator
    Beyond Dichotomy | Andrea Hiott
  • Years Active
    2023 - 2026
  • Episodes
    99
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Love & Philosophy
  • Show Website
    Love & Philosophy

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