Sep 18, 2026 · 1 hr 24 min · 11 segments
What would it mean to remember the beginning of consciousness? Tim Harrison (English and Social Thought, UChicago) takes us through moments when literary and philosophical authors portray the…
Tim HarrisonGuestNicholasHostKhafizHostWelcome to Invasive Thoughts.
We haven't recorded in a while, but today we have with us a very special guest.
And I'll say, it's not often that I get to say this, Tim is both a former male model and a professor in the Department of English, the Committee on Social Thought and the Committee for the Conceptual and Historical Studies of Science at the University of Chicago.
He's the recipient there of several teaching and mentoring awards.
He is the author of Coming To, Consciousness and Natality in Early Modern England, which I understand the title was a Quentin Skinner invention.
Is that right? Yeah, that's right.
Yeah.
OK, I'd like to hear about that.
And John Dunn's Physics.
And these are two books that, as he says, deal with the first person experience of the beginning and the end of life.
And he is twice the recipient of the John Donne Society's Distinguished Publication Award.
Tim, we're very happy to have you with us today.
Thanks for joining us.
Tim, we wanted to start by asking, how would you tell the story of your own coming to as a scholar, especially when you think about the kinds of questions you've found most absorbing in your career?
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Welcome to Invasive Thoughts.
We haven't recorded in a while, but today we have with us a very special guest.
And I'll say, it's not often that I get to say this, Tim is both a former male model and a professor in the Department of English, the Committee on Social Thought and the Committee for the Conceptual and Historical Studies of Science at the University of Chicago.
He's the recipient there of several teaching and mentoring awards.
He is the author of Coming To, Consciousness and Natality in Early Modern England, which I understand the title was a Quentin Skinner invention.
Is that right? Yeah, that's right.
Yeah.
OK, I'd like to hear about that.
And John Dunn's Physics.
And these are two books that, as he says, deal with the first person experience of the beginning and the end of life.
And he is twice the recipient of the John Donne Society's Distinguished Publication Award.
Tim, we're very happy to have you with us today.
Thanks for joining us.
Tim, we wanted to start by asking, how would you tell the story of your own coming to as a scholar, especially when you think about the kinds of questions you've found most absorbing in your career?
