What happens when the sensory world and intellectual insight collide? Is our experience of awe and beauty a matter of raw perception, or is it filtered through the context, knowledge, and history we carry with us?

Today’s guest is Mohan Matthen, Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at the University of Toronto and one of the most influential contemporary philosophers working on perception, time, and aesthetics. With a background in both physics and philosophy, Mohan bridges rigorous analytical thinking with deep questions about how we experience the world around us. His work on multisensory integration, temporal perception, and the nature of aesthetic experience reshapes how we understand the relationship between our minds and the world.

In this conversation, we delve into some of the most profound questions in both philosophy and daily life: What is the nature of sense perception? Can it be trained? And how does it shape our understanding of beauty and knowledge? Mohan explains how our sensory modalities—vision, hearing, touch—are not separate streams of input but dynamically integrated in the brain. We explore how experiences like putting down a coffee cup involve complex, multimodal perception and what this means for education, attention, and cognition.

We then journey into the world of aesthetic experience, asking: What causes awe? Why does a Mark Rothko painting stop some in their tracks while others feel indifferent? From mountain ranges to mathematical proofs, Mohan shares why awe is not just a sensory reaction but a combination of beauty, reverence, and intellectual appreciation. This episode challenges listeners to reflect more deeply on how they perceive the world and to consider how quiet attention, curiosity, and openness might transform the ordinary into the extraordinary.