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May 30, 2024

We Are Not Our Brain


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Muhammad U. Faruque

University of Cincinnati

Muhammad U. Faruque is Inayat Malik Assistant Professor at the University of Cincinnati.

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Esmé L. K. Partridge

Esmé L. K. Partridge

Guest Host

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We Are Not Our Brain

Modern science identifies the self with the brain, but this materialist conception of the self is wholly insufficient.

"In popular media, in newspapers, on podcasts or TED talks, you'd notice people are using expressions like 'our brains are wired to do XYZ' or something like 'our brains are very creative' or 'explain this to my brain.' What is really strange about all of these expressions is that they're referring to the brain rather than to the self or to your mind or to your entire person, because regardless of whether we believe in a materialistic understanding of the self, we are not just our brain and that's not how we talk to each other."

Muhammad Faruque


In this episode of the Renovatio podcast, Esme Partridge makes time with Professor Muhammad Faruque to discuss the overarching idea of his latest article, "We Are Not Our Brain." Modern science and popular culture collapses the multi-faceted notion of the self with our brain and relies heavily on technological language to describe human cognition, feeling, and activity. What's wrong with this reductive perspective of the self and what is there to gain from an alternative view?

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“We Are Not Our Brain,” Muhammad Faruque, Renovatio


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