Ten years ago I wrote an article for Scientific American ca…

Ten years ago I wrote an article for Scientific American called “The Real Neuroscience of Creativity”. In that article, I presented an exciting new approach in neuroscience called the network approach that looks at how large-scale brain networks interact with each other to produce creativity, and I noted that these brain structures recruit areas in both the left and right hemisphere. In other words, creativity is not exclusively a right-brain phenomena.
Fast forward to 2023, the Institute of Art and Ideas asks me if they can repost the article. That’s all they ask me. Of course I give them permission. They published it, titling it “The right-left brain hemisphere split isn’t true”. Pretty contentious title, but not my title.
Next thing I know, I see a response from Dr. McGilchrist on their website called “The right brain is essential to creativity” where he vociferously replied to my post. Oh man, I unintentionally triggered him! I had no idea the good folks at the Insitute of Arts and Ideas were going to ask him to reply to that article, especially considering that post was not a criticism whatsoever of Iain’s careful work. It was more a response I wrote to the pop psych notion that creativity is only a right-brain phenomena.
Anyway, long story short: I reach out to Iain and explained the situation to him and we had a good laugh about the situation. We were unknowingly forced into a boxing ring and we don’t even want to box with each other. Our correspondence quickly became friendly, and we started sharing each other’s work with each other. I decided it would make sense to have the conversation in public so invited him on my podcast, and here we are.
I’ve greatly enjoyed going down the rabbit hole of reading Dr. McGilchrist’s work and was pleased to see just how many areas of overlap we have in regards to fascinations, including our attempts to understand the nature of intelligence, creativity and even sacred & transcendent experiences.
This conversation is very rich and I think brings clarity to some important issues in the field of psychology and cognitive neuroscience.
So without further ado, I bring you Dr. McGilchrist.
Transcript
Iian: [00:00:00] There is a kind of thinking that we have prioritized over all other kinds of thinking, because I believe of one simple thing, it helps us manipulate the world, but it doesn’t necessarily help us understand it. I usually say, the right hemisphere helps us understand the world, the left only to manipulate.
Scott: Today we welcome psychiatrist and author Ian McGilchrist to the show. Wow, what an episode. I’ve greatly enjoyed going down the rabbit hole of reading Dr. McGilchrist’s work. and was pleased to see just how many areas of overlap we have in regards to our fascinations. Including our attempts to understand the nature of intelligence, creativity, and even sacred and transcendent experiences.
This conversation is very rich and meaningful, and I think brings clarity to some important issues in the fields of psychology and cognitive neuroscience. So without further ado, I bring you Dr. Ian McGilchrist. Ian McGilchrist, [00:01:00] wow, it’s so, it’s such an honor to have you on the Psychology Podcast.
Iian: Well, it’s just a delight to be here.
Thank you for asking
Scott: me. We have so many areas of mutual interest as I realize more and more as I go down the rabbit hole. Uh, that is your large body of work. I think to myself, wow, I want to talk to him about that. Well, I want to talk to him about that. Well, I want to talk to him about that. Uh, but I, I always like to find out the genesis of people’s work and their ideas.
And I, I did kind of go. the rabbit hole of your of your life. Um, and, uh, you really are hard to fit into any particular box. That is very true. Um, you’ve said that before and that is true. Yes. You start off in literature and the humanities. Is that correct?
Iian: Yes. I’ve always been equally attracted to science and the humanities.
And at school I started in science and specialized later in humanities. Then I went to Oxford to do philosophy and theology. Ended up reading literary studies, English literature mainly. And, [00:02:00] uh, and then I got a fellowship, which allowed me to range back into philosophy, which has always been my big interest.
And
Scott: so where were you in your life in 1982 when you published your book against criticism, which I read, by the way, in preparation for this? Yes, because I see lots of linkages with your current work.
Iian: That’s unbelievable. That’s so I don’t think any of my interviewers has ever done that.
Scott: No, I bet they haven’t.
I wanted to step up. I wanted to step up.
Iian: Apart from anything else, it’s extremely difficult to find a copy of the book anymore. And people say, why don’t you republish it? And I guess one day I will, but I just didn’t want it to come out. And then people go, have you seen the latest thing Ian McGilchrist wrote?
And it’s something I wrote in my twenties.…