Iain McGilchrist talks to Charles Foster

Neuropsychologist Dr Iain McGilchrist talks about his two-volume work, The Matter with Things, in which he addresses major questions about who we are and how we can understand consciousness, matter, space and time. 

McGilchrist argues that we are slaves to the left hemisphere of the brain, and this blinds us to the awe-inspiring reality around us. He argues that to understand the world we need science and intuition, reason and imagination and that the two sides are not in conflict. McGilchrist says the right side of the brain plays the most important part. He explains how to recognise the signature of the left side of the brain in our thinking to avoid making decisions that bring disaster. McGilchrist says cutting-edge neurology, philosophy and physics leads us to a vision of the world that is in line with the deepest traditions of human wisdom.

McGilchrist is a fellow of All Souls College, Oxford, and a former consultant psychiatrist and clinical director. He taught English literature while pursuing interests in psychology and philosophy before training in medicine. His previous books include Against Criticism, The Master and his Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World, The Divided Brain and the Search for Meaning; Why Are We So Unhappy?; and Ways of Attending. Here he talks to naturalist and lawyer Professor Charles Foster, a fellow of Exeter College, Oxford, and author of Being a Beast and Being a Human.