About this episode

The episode discusses Iain McGilchrist's book on brain lateralization and its impact on Western thought and culture.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit deathinthegarden.substack.com On this episode of “Death in The Garden,” we discuss the incredibly fascinating, profound, and instructive book, The Master and His Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World by Iain McGilchrist . Following a similar structure to the book, we first talk about what brain lateralization is; what the difference between the left and right hemisphere is (along with the misconceptions); the importance of attention, metaphor, and theory of mind; and then we talk about why this concept of left brain dominance (with right brain primacy) is so important. We then dive into the history as McGilchrist lays it out in his expansive book, showing the oscillation between the right hemisphere being respected, and the left hemisphere taking control. Always orienting towards the distinction between manifestions of right and left hemisphere attitudes and behaviors, we discuss antiquity, Ancient and Classical Greece, Rome, the Renaissance and Reformation, the Enlightenment, Romanticism and the Industrial Revolution, Modernism and Postmodernism, ending on today, where the left hemisphere…

People in this episode

Hosts: Jake Marquez, Maren Morgan

Topics covered

• brain lateralization
• left hemisphere
• right hemisphere
• history of thought
• cultural impact
• death and fear of death

Keywords

• brain
• lateralization
• left hemisphere
• right hemisphere
• Western culture
• Iain McGilchrist
• death
• philosophy
• history

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: The Master and His Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World

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