Is the biological self a delusion? | JohnJoe McFadden, Ane Ogbe and Peter Brodin

JohnJoe McFadden, Ane Ogbe and Peter Brodin discuss if the biological self is a delusion.

We laugh at the medieval view that disease is due to an imbalance in the four humours. Instead we see infectious illness as an attack by something external. But this can't be the whole story. After all, not everyone got Covid or suffered from it equally.

There are mounting challenges to the standard attack-defence account of disease. Critics argue It relies on our being able to distinguish self and non-self and there is no such mechanism. Instead they argue radical collective and ecological frameworks provide a better and more effective account.

Can the new paradigms of danger theory or adaptation help crack disease? Must we give up our current ideas of the self and identity? And might immunology proves to be the key to the deep philosophical question of what makes us who we are?

#DangerTheoryAndAdaptation #SelfAndNonSelf #DiseaseAndTheSelf

Quantum biologist JohnJoe McFadden, distinguished immunologist Ane Ogbe and Professor of Paediatric Immunology Petter Brodin debate the self and the non-self. Gunes Taylor hosts.

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[TheInstituteOfArtAndIdeas]

Do you think the biological self exists? Let us know in the comments below!

[isabelab]

How is this line of understanding informing research on autoimmune diseases?

[cmauro]

If environment becomes stressful why do you get sick once the stressor is gone?

[shawkorror]

Obviously not. Whilst a vaguely interesting daydream, every empirical test proves it.