THIS COURSE WAS IN DUTCH | What is consciousness? Philosophers have long pondered this question. But what is the current state of thinking about consciousness? Will we ever understand how the electrical activity in our brains ultimately produces our whole inner world, with all its feelings, impressions and experiences? Or should we accept that this may remain a mystery forever?
October - December 2025 | Elinor Ostrom Building | Radboud Reflects | This course has been rated with an average of 8.0. See announcement
Simply a wonderful series of lectures with excellent speakers! I thought it was great to see that the relationships between everyone were so friendly and equal. Fantastic!
Can we ever get a grip on consciousness? At the heart of consciousness are subjective experiences. As a result, some argue that science, which describes the world objectively, can never get a grip on consciousness. This is known as The hard problem. On the other hand, we are gaining more and more knowledge about what consciousness does for us. Could this knowledge eventually lead to a knowledge of what consciousness is?
Having explained The hard problem, as a student you will learn what different fields of study have to say about what consciousness does for humans, animals and, who knows, even machines. Do animals have consciousness, and how is it different from that of humans? Can we talk about consciousness in robots, and what would be the consequences? How does our idea of consciousness affect how we think about psychiatric disorders? And what can neuroscience tell us about consciousness? Can consciousness be measured in the brain?
At the end of the course you will take stock: will we ever be able to understand what consciousness is by mapping what consciousness does? In the final lecture, all the lecturers will discuss with each other and with the students whether the problem of subjective experience - The hard problem - is solvable.
Marc Slors is professor of Cognitive Philosophy at Radboud University. Cognitive Philosophy examines the human “mind” and its relationship to the brain and behavior. Marc Slors' research focuses on the relationship between cognition and culture. His previous work has focused on the philosophy of neuroscience, free will, social cognition and the self.
Bas van Woerkum-Rooker received his PhD from Radboud University in 2024 in the philosophy of animal cognition. His dissertation, Ecologies of Animal Minds, explores how we can understand the intelligence of non-human animal species without using our intuitions about human cognition as a starting point.
Nina Poth is university lecturer in Philosophy of Cognition and Language at Radboud University. Her research spans philosophy of cognition, philosophy of mind and epistemology. She is particularly interested in understanding learning, reasoning and rationality in human, nonhuman and artificial systems.
Linde van Schuppen is a visiting researcher in the Department of Philosophy of Cognition and Language at Radboud University. Her research combines (cognitive) linguistics and narrative theory with philosophy of cognition and the philosophy of psychiatry. During her PhD track, she investigated the narratives of people with a schizophrenia diagnosis.
Eelke Spaak is an associate professor at the Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour. He conducts research on conscious visual perception and its neural bases. In particular, he uses magneto- and electrophysiological experimental techniques, advanced (behavioral) data analysis and models, and theoretical reflection.
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