Can metaphysical experiences be real? | Slavoj Žižek and Rupert Sheldrake

Parapsychologist Rupert Sheldrake goes head to head with philosopher Slavoj Žižek on metaphysical experiences and religion.
This excerpt is from "Fantasy and the void" featuring Slavoj Žižek, Rupert Sheldrake and Jennifer Ratner-Rosenhagen. Wes Alwan hosts.
Watch the full debate at iai.tv/video/fantasy-and-the-...
#TheMetaphysicalExperience #WillScienceReplaceReligion #FantasyAndTheVoid
Slavoj Žižek is a globally renowned philosopher and cultural critic. He is international director of the Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities at the University of London, visiting professor at New York University and a senior researcher at the University of Ljubljana's Department of Philosophy. He is the author of several books, including The Sublime Object of Ideology, The Parallax View, Living in the End Times and Heaven in Disorder. His unique style of philosophy, which is often imbued with humour and political incorrectness, has gained him admirers and critics across the globe.
Rupert Sheldrake is an English scientist whose research into parapsychology and evolution led to the theory of morphic resonance, expounded in the book A New Science of Life. The theory posits that "memory is inherent in nature" which makes it possible for "telepathy-type interconnections between organisms." Other topics he has written and spoken on include precognition, the relationships between spirituality and science and the psychic staring effect. Sheldrake's most recent book is Science and Spiritual Practices (2017).
To discover more talks, debates, interviews and academies with the world's leading speakers visit iai.tv/subscribe?Y...
The Institute of Art and Ideas features videos and articles from cutting edge thinkers discussing the ideas that are shaping the world, from metaphysics to string theory, technology to democracy, aesthetics to genetics. Subscribe today!
For debates and talks: iai.tv
For articles: iai.tv/articles
For courses: iai.tv/iai-academy/courses

[@TheInstituteOfArtAndIdeas]

Do you think science and religion can coexist? Let us know in the comments below!

[@commonwunder]

Žižeks' internet connection... once again, mirrors his fragmented and intermittent persona perfectly.

[@randomvideos2065]

Listening and watching Zizek just makes Sheldrakes case seem so right… why are these atheist materialists so off putting in so many ways.

[@joedavis4150]

.. regarding conventional religious ideology, Dennis McKenna said the last thing the church wants you to do is to have a spiritual experience.

[@nascentcomplacence3302]

Slavoj looks so bored. Lol

[@VoloBonja]

You can skip first 3 min and 30 seconds, sheldrake is pseudoscience

[@HegemonicMarxism]

The problem is that you don't have "mystical experiences". What superstitious people call "mystical experience" is a culturally informed, self-induced emotional response to psychological stimuli. People then interpret these emotions or subjective feelings in mystical terms using the religious language that is common in their culture.

[@plainjane2305]

I am struck by the obvious anger with which Zizek responds here. Looks like Sheldrake struck a nerve... 🙂

[@pillowstone]

Babbling nonsense from Zizek ... now there's a surprise 😆

[@groovydudeful]

Slavoj refers to stimulation of the brain to create the sense of experience. This is not to say a bona fide experience is thus rendered invalid. I could have the sense of eating an apple through having centres of my brain stimulated. That does not devalue the experience of actually consuming an apple though.

[@moesypittounikos]

Zizek is like Ali G pranking his interviewee. So Sheldrake calmly talks and Zizek start going crazy!

[@retardsofyoutube]

The feeling of DYING when experiencing a panic attack is also very convincing. Yet you don't die, in that moment

[@mehdimehdikhani5899]

I just realized who Rupert is. I remember him from his discussions with Krishnamurti.

[@handyalley2350]

Love these guys. Didnt think they would ever meet. But then again zizek talked with cornel west. I wish zizek and ken wilber would talk as well.

[@gabrielnemirovsky421]

Where can I see the rest of this conversation?

[@apparentbeing]

Experiences are real but it proves only that something has been experienced and it is not necessary realistic.

[@1p6t1gms]

My KZbin feed does not send me as many current links to Slavoj as in days past...?

[@MichaelSmith420fu]

Very good Zizek

[@septopus3516]

Oh man, please post the full debate..

[@retardsofyoutube]

I read in the comment section how he's a scientist through and through. I disagree