Uploaded December 2014 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago

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From Descartes' view of the heart as a pump to Dennett's conception of the brain as a computer, our understanding of the body is permeated with mechanical metaphors. Is it an error to believe that the body is a machine? Should we find a new adventure in alternative metaphors of the body, or would this be a romantic illusion?

This surprise exchange between Daniel Dennett and Rupert Sheldrake at Hay on Wye came at the end of a discussion between Oxford neuroscientist Colin Blakemore, novelist Joanna Kavenna and Rupert on the machine as metaphor, hosted by David Malone.

Produced by The Institute of Art and Ideas: iai.tv

Full Discussion
Beyond the Machine: Metaphors of the Body
sheldrake.org/videos/beyond-the-machine-metaphors-of-the-body