Panpsychism

The debate over panpsychism has only got hotter in the past few years, not only in Nautilus, of course, but in articles and books. In this mini-issue we head back into the debate with new perspectives on panpsychism, which don’t solve the hard problem, but do inch close to the heart of matter.   

In the first book of Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy, The Golden Compass, Lord Asriel (played by James McAvoy in HBO’s adaptation of the book) discovers a mysterious substance, called Dust, that exists everywhere and seems to be implicated in consciousness. For Pullman, Dust is an expression of his fascination with panpsychism, the philosophical idea […]

If a philosopher starts speaking about elementary particles, run.Pinterest I recently discovered panpsychism. That’s the idea that all matter—animate or inanimate—is conscious, we just happen to be somewhat more conscious than carrots. Panpsychism is the modern elan vital.  When I say I “discovered” panpsychism, I mean I discovered there’s a bunch of philosophers who produce […]

Think of consciousness like spacetime—a fundamental field that’s everywhere.

What panpsychism does—and does not—explain about consciousness.

We’ve made an artificially panpsychic world, where technology and nature are one.

Why the central problem in neuroscience is mirrored in physics.