Panpsychism

In the philosophy of mind, panpsychism (/pænˈsaɪkɪzəm/) is the view that the mind or a mind-like aspect is a fundamental and ubiquitous feature of reality.^[1] It is also described as a theory that "the mind is a fundamental feature of the world which exists throughout the universe".^[2] It is one of the oldest philosophical theories, and has been ascribed to philosophers including Thales, Plato, Spinoza, Leibniz, William James,^[3] Alfred North Whitehead, Bertrand Russell, and Galen Strawson.^[1] In the 19th century, panpsychism was the default philosophy of mind in Western thought, but it saw a decline in the mid-20th century with the rise of logical positivism.^[3]^[4] Recent interest in the hard problem of consciousness and developments in the fields of neuroscience, psychology, and quantum mechanics have revived interest in panpsychism in the 21st century.^[4]^[5]^[6]

^ ^a ^b Goff, Philip; Seager, William; Allen-Hermanson, Sean (2017). "Panpsychism". In Zalta, Edward N. (ed.). Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved September 15, 2018.
^ Bruntrup, Godehard; Jaskolla, Ludwig (2017). Panpsychism: Contemporary Perspectives. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. p. 365. ISBN 978-0-19-935994-3.
^ ^a ^b Koch, Christof (January 1, 2014). "Is Consciousness Universal?". Scientific American. doi:10.1038/scientificamericanmind0114-26. Retrieved September 13, 2018.
^ ^a ^b Cite error: The named reference Seager was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ Goff, Philip (2017). "The Case for Panpsychism". Philosophy Now. Retrieved October 3, 2018.
^ Weisberg, Josh. "The Hard Problem of Consciousness". Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. ISSN 2161-0002. Retrieved September 11, 2018.