I am trying to make sense of a recent New Scientist article on theories of consciousness as I watch The Great Philosophers, a 1980s BBC series presented by Bryan Magee. In each episode Magee (excellent) interviews a contemporary philosopher about a past philosopher. It’s very basic: two very clever people sitting awkwardly on a sofa talking to each other for 45 minutes. Just that. Frequently – not always – their conversation is so interesting and diverting that I daren’t even blow my nose for fear of losing the thread. The table in front of them is an occasional third: there to be used as an example of an object which is either materially real or something perceived through mental structures and perhaps not a thing-in-itself.

I hadn’t thought much about philosophy since an evening class in my early 20s (the era from which my musty paperback copy of “The History of Western Philosophy” dates) so it’s a long time since I stubbed my toes on the impenetrability of some of the arguments. Shall I ever get my head round the difference between idealism and phenomenology? I can see that I’m going to try it all over again now!