Consciousness studies and evolutionary biology in Stoppard’s The Hard Problem
Daniel Meyer-Dinkgräfe, Gregory F. Tague
Lincoln Repository 2015 DOI: 10.13150/05131.82 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Philosophy of mind |
| Keywords | Consciousness Conversation Context archaeology Plot graphics Art history Epistemology Communication Paleontology |
| Key points | Argues that Stoppard's play uses references to evolutionary biology and consciousness studies to explore themes of altruism and the banking crisis. |
Abstract
At the Royal National Theatre Platform Performance with Tom Stoppard on 6 February 2015, host Nicholas Hytner, then still director of the RNT, started the conversation by quoting from a letter Stoppard had sent Hytner in 2013. In the letter, Stoppard indicates that he wanted to combine writing about the banking crisis and the possibility of a person’s altruistic goodness in the context of evolutionary biology. The resulting play, › The Hard Problem‹ (2015) directed by Hytner at the Dorfman Theatre (World Premiere on 28 January 2015), was at the centre of that platform discussion, and is at the centre of this article. In the article we provide a detailed analysis of the play’s use of references to evolutionary biology and consciousness studies, and how these references relate to the characters, the plot, and the RNT production.
Comparable studies
Other theoretical and historical papers on philosophy of mind, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Psychosis as a state of aberrant salience: a framework linking biology, phenomenology, and pharmacology in schizophrenia. | 2003 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| From dopamine to salience to psychosis--linking biology, pharmacology and phenomenology of psychosis. | 2005 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| How do the brain's time and space mediate consciousness and its different dimensions? Temporo-spatial theory of consciousness (TTC). | 2017 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| The phenomenology of deep brain stimulation-induced changes in OCD: an enactive affordance-based model. | 2013 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Looking for the Self: Phenomenology, Neurophysiology and Philosophical Significance of Drug-induced Ego Dissolution | 2017 | Theoretical or philosophical paper |