Presenting Elemental at Loyola

What this video is about

This video features an excerpt from the presentation of the book Elemental at Loyola University. The speaker thanks the university for the opportunity to present the work and briefly explains its approach: in his words, the book does not merely explain the mind but proposes a new way of thinking. To do so, it combines scientific and popular-science content with an invitation to reflect on what one is reading.

The second part of the talk presents the book’s underlying framework. It recalls that much of who we are and how far we have come is owed to the Enlightenment, and mentions a current movement that speaks of a “New Enlightenment”. This proposal is described as an attempt to recover the compass or guide that made it possible to advance towards scientific knowledge, test our own theories and leave magical thinking behind, but updated for the twenty-first century.

Topics: popular science, New Enlightenment, critical thinking, book presentation