What Is It Really Like to Be a Bat? (the Forum)

Are bats conscious, and how can we tell? What is it like to use sound to navigate? In a classic paper called ‘What Is It Like to Be a Bat?’, Thomas Nagel used the bat’s capacity for echolocation to introduce philosophical problems concerning conscious experience. But the example is usually discussed in ignorance of what the lives of bats are actually like. This dialogue brings together a philosopher and a bat scientist to discuss the latest research into the minds of bats.

In conjunction with the CPNSS, LSE

Speakers
Alison Fairbrass
Postgraduate researcher in biodiversity and the built environment, UCL

Craig French
Assistant Professor in Philosophy, University of Nottingham

Chair
Jonathan Birch
Fellow, The Forum
Assistant Professor of Philosophy, LSE