Panpsychism
Panpsychism is the belief that mind, or consciousness, is omnipresent throughout the universe and is a fundamental aspect the universe. Examples of panpsychic beliefs are that atoms have "atomic consciousness", rocks have "rock consciousness", trees have "tree consciousness", planets have "planet consciousness", the universe has "universal consciousness", and so on. Panpsychism is sometimes called panexperientialism in contemporary Philosophy of mind.
Panpsychism and Theism
Panpsychism is sometimes described as nothing more than the universe having "universal consciousness". This view is shared by some forms of theosophy, pantheism, panentheism, cosmotheism, and universism. However this form of panpsychism does not necessarily imply any of these views.
Panpsychism and the Mind-body problem
Panpsychism does not necessarily imply idealism - the metaphysical view that mind is the fundamental constituent of reality (a view that reduces matter to mind - a type of monism). Panpsychism is compatible with either idealism or dualism - the view that mind and matter are mutually irreducible. In contrast, panpsychism seems incompatible with materialism (or physicalism), another kind of monism that reduces mind to matter.
Panpsychism is often viewed as a solution to the hard problem of consciousness.
Thinkers on Panpsychism
Those in Favor
- Thales
- Anaxagoras
- Henri Bergson
- David Bohm
- Fritjof Capra
- David Chalmers
- William Kingdon Clifford
- Gustav Fechner
- David Ray Griffin
- Ernst Haeckel
- Charles Hartshorne
- Gerardus Heymans
- William James
- A. Kozlov
- Gottfried Leibniz
- Rudolf Hermann Lotze
- Thomas Nagel
- Friedrich Paulsen
- Morton Prince
- Josiah Royce
- Ferdinand C. S. Schiller
- Arthur Schopenhauer
- Baruch Spinoza
- Timothy L.S. Sprigge
- Galen Strawson
- Eduard von Hartmann
- Alfred North Whitehead
- Ken Wilber
- Sewall Wright
- Wilhelm Wundt
- Gary Zukav