Editing Panpsychism

{{Short description|View that mind is a fundamental feature of reality}}
{{Distinguish|Hylozoism}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2024}}

[[File:Neoplatonic-Sun.GIF|thumb|250px|Illustration of the Neoplatonic concept of the [[anima mundi]] emanating from [[Absolute (philosophy)|The Absolute]], in some ways a precursor to modern panpsychism]]

In [[philosophy of mind]], '''panpsychism''' ({{IPAc-en|p|æ|n|ˈ|s|aɪ|k|ɪ|z|əm}}) is the view that the [[mind]] or a mind-like aspect is a fundamental and ubiquitous feature of reality.<ref name="sep-panpsych">{{cite encyclopedia|last=Goff|first=Philip|author-link=Philip Goff (Philosopher)|author2=Seager|author2-first=William|author3=Allen-Hermanson|author3-first=Sean|editor-last=Zalta|editor-first=Edward N.|editor-link=Edward N. Zalta|encyclopedia=Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy|title=Panpsychism|year=2017|url=https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/panpsychism/|access-date=15 September 2018}}</ref> It is also described as a theory that "the mind is a fundamental feature of the world which exists throughout the universe".<ref name="bruntrup-jaskolla">{{Cite book|last1=Bruntrup|first1=Godehard|title=Panpsychism: Contemporary Perspectives|last2=Jaskolla|first2=Ludwig|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2017|isbn=978-0-19-935994-3|location=New York, NY|pages=365}}</ref> It is one of the oldest philosophical theories, and has been ascribed in some form to philosophers including [[Thales]], [[Plato]], [[Spinoza]], [[Leibniz]], [[Schopenhauer]], [[William James]],<ref name="sa-koch">{{cite journal|last1=Koch|first1=Christof|author-link=Christof Koch|title=Is Consciousness Universal?|url=https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/is-consciousness-universal/|website=Scientific American|date=1 January 2014|access-date=13 September 2018|doi=10.1038/scientificamericanmind0114-26|url-access=subscription}}</ref> [[Alfred North Whitehead]], and [[Bertrand Russell]].<ref name="sep-panpsych" /> 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]].<ref name="sa-koch" /><ref name="Seager" /> 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 because it addresses the hard problem directly.<ref name="Seager" /><ref name="pn-goff">{{cite web|last1=Goff|first1=Philip|author-link=Philip Goff (Philosopher)|title=The Case for Panpsychism|url=https://philosophynow.org/issues/121/The_Case_For_Panpsychism|website=Philosophy Now|access-date=3 October 2018|date=2017}}</ref><ref name="jw-iep">{{cite web|last1=Weisberg|first1=Josh|title=The Hard Problem of Consciousness|url=https://www.iep.utm.edu/hard-con/|website=Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy|issn=2161-0002|access-date=11 September 2018}}</ref>{{TOC limit|3}}

== Overview ==
=== Etymology ===
The term ''panpsychism'' comes from the [[Ancient Greek|Greek]] ''pan'' ([[wikt:πᾶν|πᾶν]]: "all, everything, whole") and ''psyche'' ([[wikt:ψυχή|ψυχή]]: "[[soul]], [[mind]]").<ref name="Clarke">{{cite book |last1=Clarke |first1=D. S. |title=Panpsychism: Past and Recent Selected Readings |date=2004 |publisher=[[State University of New York Press]]}}</ref>{{rp|1}} The use of "psyche" is controversial because it is synonymous with "soul", a term usually taken to refer to something supernatural; more common terms now found in the literature include [[mind]], [[mental properties]], mental aspect, and [[experience]].

=== Concept ===
Panpsychism holds that mind or a mind-like aspect is a fundamental and ubiquitous feature of reality.<ref name="sep-panpsych"/> It is sometimes defined as a theory in which "the mind is a fundamental feature of the world which exists throughout the universe".<ref name="bruntrup-jaskolla"/> Panpsychists posit that the type of mentality we know through our own experience is present, in some form, in a wide range of natural bodies.<ref name="Clarke" /> This notion has taken on a wide variety of forms. Some historical and non-Western panpsychists ascribe attributes such as life or spirits to all entities ([[animism]]).<ref name="Skrbina" /> Contemporary academic proponents, however, hold that [[sentience]] or [[subjective experience]] is ubiquitous, while distinguishing these qualities from more complex human mental attributes.<ref name="Skrbina" /> They therefore ascribe a primitive form of mentality to entities at the fundamental level of physics but may not ascribe mentality to most aggregate things, such as rocks or buildings.<ref name="sep-panpsych"/><ref name="chalmers-panpsych" /><ref name="clarke-PRA">{{Cite book|last=Clarke|first=David S.|title=Panpsychism and the Religious Attitude|publisher=State University of New York Press|year=2012|isbn=978-0-7914-5685-9|location=Albany, NY|pages=1|language=en}}</ref>

=== Terminology ===
The philosopher [[David Chalmers]], who has explored panpsychism as a viable theory, distinguishes between microphenomenal experiences (the experiences of [[wikt:microphysics|microphysical]] entities) and macrophenomenal experiences (the experiences of larger entities, such as humans).<ref name="Chalmers-combination">{{cite encyclopedia|last1=Chalmers|first1=David|author-link=David Chalmers|editor1-last=Brüntrup|editor1-first=Godehard|editor2-last=Jaskolla|editor2-first=Ludwig|encyclopedia=Panpsychism: Contemporary Perspectives|date=2017|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=New York|pages=179–214|url=http://consc.net/papers/combination.pdf|access-date=28 April 2019|title=The Combination Problem for Panpsychism}}</ref>

[[Philip Goff (Philosopher)|Philip Goff]] draws a distinction between ''panexperientialism'' and ''pancognitivism''. In the form of panpsychism under discussion in the contemporary literature, conscious experience is present everywhere at a fundamental level, hence the term ''panexperientialism''. Pancognitivism, by contrast, is the view that thought is present everywhere at a fundamental level—a view that had some historical advocates, but no present-day academic adherents. Contemporary panpsychists do not believe microphysical entities have complex mental states such as beliefs, desires, and fears.<ref name="sep-panpsych"/>

Originally, the term ''panexperientialism'' had a narrower meaning, having been coined by [[David Ray Griffin]] to refer specifically to the form of panpsychism used in [[process philosophy]] (see below).<ref name="Skrbina" />

== History ==
{{See also|Anima mundi{{!}}Anima mundi (World soul)|Microcosm–macrocosm analogy}}

=== Antiquity ===
[[Image:Meotoiwa.jpg|thumb|right|Two ''[[Iwakura (Shinto)#Iwakura|iwakura]]'' – a rock where a [[kami]] or spirit is said to reside in the religion of [[Shinto]]]]

Panpsychist views are a staple in [[pre-Socratic]] [[Greek philosophy]].<ref name="Seager">{{Cite web|last1=Seager|first1=William|last2=Allen-Hermanson|first2=Sean|date=2001-05-23|title=Panpsychism|url=https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2012/entries/panpsychism/|language=en}}</ref> According to [[Aristotle]], [[Thales]] (c. 624 – 545 BCE), the first Greek philosopher, posited a theory which held "that everything is full of gods".<ref>[[Aristotle]]. ''[[De Anima]]'' 411a7–8.</ref> Thales believed that magnets demonstrated this. This has been interpreted as a panpsychist doctrine.<ref name= Seager /> Other Greek thinkers associated with panpsychism include [[Anaxagoras]] (who saw the unifying principle or ''[[arche]]'' as ''[[nous]]'' or mind), [[Anaximenes of Miletus|Anaximenes]] (who saw the ''arche'' as ''[[pneuma]]'' or spirit) and [[Heraclitus]] (who said "The thinking faculty is common to all").<ref name= Skrbina>{{cite web|last1=Skrbina|first1=David|title=Panpsychism|url=https://www.iep.utm.edu/panpsych/|website=Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy|issn=2161-0002|access-date=1 May 2019}}</ref>

[[Plato]] argues for panpsychism in his ''[[Sophist (dialogue)|Sophist]]'', in which he writes that all things participate in the [[Platonic form|form]] of Being and that it must have a psychic aspect of mind and soul (''[[psyche (psychology)|psyche]]'').<ref name= Skrbina /> In the ''[[Philebus]]'' and ''[[Timaeus (dialogue)|Timaeus]]'', Plato argues for the idea of a world soul or ''anima mundi''. According to Plato:
<blockquote> This world is indeed a living being endowed with a soul and intelligence ... a single visible living entity containing all other living entities, which by their nature are all related.<ref>[[Plato]], [[Timaeus (dialogue)|''Timaeus'']], 29/30; fourth century [[BCE]]</ref></blockquote>

[[Stoicism]] developed a cosmology that held that the natural world is infused with the divine fiery essence ''[[Pneuma (Stoic)|pneuma]]'', directed by the universal intelligence ''[[logos]]''. The relationship between beings' individual ''logos'' and the universal ''logos'' was a central concern of the Roman Stoic [[Marcus Aurelius]]. The [[Stoic physics|metaphysics of Stoicism]] finds connections with [[Hellenistic philosophy|Hellenistic philosophies]] such as [[Neoplatonism]]. [[Gnosticism]] also made use of the Platonic idea of ''anima mundi''.

=== Renaissance ===
[[File:Fotothek df tg 0006450 Theosophie ^ Philosophie ^ Judentum ^ Kabbala ^ Kunst ^ Technik.jpg|thumb|200px|Illustration of the Cosmic order by Robert Fludd, where the World soul is depicted as a woman]]

After Emperor Justinian closed [[Plato's Academy]] in 529 CE, [[neoplatonism]] declined. Though there were mediaeval theologians, such as [[John Scotus Eriugena]], who ventured into what might be called panpsychism, it was not a dominant strain in philosophical theology. But in the [[Italian Renaissance]], it enjoyed something of a revival in the thought of figures such as [[Gerolamo Cardano]], [[Bernardino Telesio]], [[Franciscus Patricius|Francesco Patrizi]], [[Giordano Bruno]], and [[Tommaso Campanella]]. Cardano argued for the view that soul or ''anima'' was a fundamental part of the world, and Patrizi introduced the term ''panpsychism'' into philosophical vocabulary. According to Bruno, "There is nothing that does not possess a soul and that has no vital principle".<ref name= Skrbina /> Platonist ideas resembling the ''anima mundi'' (world soul) also resurfaced in the work of [[Western esotericism|esoteric]] thinkers such as [[Paracelsus]], [[Robert Fludd]], and [[Cornelius Agrippa]].

=== Early modern ===
In the 17th century, two [[rationalists]], [[Baruch Spinoza]] and [[Gottfried Leibniz]], can be said to be panpsychists.<ref name= Seager /> In Spinoza's monism, the one single infinite and eternal substance is "God, or Nature" (''[[Ethics (Spinoza)#God or Nature - Deus sive Natura|Deus sive Natura]]''), which has the aspects of mind (thought) and matter (extension). Leibniz's view is that there are infinitely many absolutely simple mental substances called [[monad (philosophy)|monads]] that make up the universe's fundamental structure. While it has been said that [[George Berkeley]]'s [[idealist]] philosophy is also a form of panpsychism,<ref name= Seager /> Berkeley rejected panpsychism and posited that the physical world exists only in the experiences minds have of it, while restricting minds to humans and certain other specific agents.<ref name=":6">Berkeley, George (1948–57, Nelson) Robinson, H. (ed.) (1996). "Principles of Human Knowledge and Three Dialogues", pp. ix–x & passim. Oxford University Press, Oxford. {{ISBN|0192835491}}.</ref>

=== 19th century ===
In the 19th century, panpsychism was at its zenith. Philosophers such as [[Arthur Schopenhauer]], [[Charles Sanders Peirce|C.S. Peirce]], [[Josiah Royce]], [[William James]], [[Eduard von Hartmann]], [[F.C.S. Schiller]], [[Ernst Haeckel]], [[William Kingdon Clifford]] and [[Thomas Carlyle]]<ref>{{Cite EB1911|wstitle= Panpsychism|volume= 20|page = 681|short=1}}</ref> as well as psychologists such as [[Gustav Fechner]], [[Wilhelm Wundt]], [[Rudolf Hermann Lotze]] all promoted panpsychist ideas.<ref name= Seager />

Arthur Schopenhauer argued for a two-sided view of reality as both [[Will (philosophy)|Will]] and Representation (''Vorstellung''). According to Schopenhauer, "All ostensible mind can be attributed to matter, but all matter can likewise be attributed to mind".{{citation needed|date=November 2018}}

[[Josiah Royce]], the leading American absolute idealist, held that reality is a "world self", a conscious being that comprises everything, though he did not necessarily attribute mental properties to the smallest constituents of mentalistic "systems". The American [[Pragmaticism|pragmatist]] philosopher [[Charles Sanders Peirce]] espoused a sort of psycho-physical [[monism]] in which the universe is suffused with mind, which he associated with spontaneity and freedom. Following Pierce, [[William James]] also espoused a form of panpsychism.<ref>Ford, Marcus P. (1981). ''William James: Panpsychist and Metaphysical Realist''. Transactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society, Vol. 17, No. 2. pp. 158–170.</ref> In his lecture notes, James wrote: 
<blockquote>Our only intelligible notion of an object ''in itself'' is that it should be an object ''for itself'', and this lands us in panpsychism and a belief that our physical perceptions are effects on us of 'psychical' realities<ref name= Skrbina /></blockquote>

English philosopher [[Alfred Barratt]], the author of ''Physical Metempiric'' (1883), has been described as advocating panpsychism.<ref>Rogers, Arthur Kenyon. (1922). [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc2.ark:/13960/t6057pz8h&view=1up&seq=348 ''English and American Philosophy Since 1800: A Critical Survey'']. New York: Macmillan. p. 326</ref><ref>Robinson, Daniel Sommer. (1932). [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015048991130&view=1up&seq=228&skin=2021 ''An Introduction to Living Philosophy'']. New York, Thomas Y. Crowell Company. p. 200</ref>

In 1893, [[Paul Carus]] proposed a philosophy similar to panpsychism, "panbiotism", according to which "everything is fraught with life; it contains life; it has the ability to live".<ref name="Skrbina-2005">Skrbina, David. (2005). ''Panpsychism in the West''. MIT Press. {{ISBN|0-262-19522-4}}.</ref>{{rp|149}}<ref>Carus, Paul. (1893). "Panpsychism and Panbiotism". ''[[The Monist]]''. Vol. 3, No. 2. pp. 234–257. {{JSTOR|27897062}}</ref>

=== 20th century ===
[[Bertrand Russell]]'s [[neutral monist]] views tended toward panpsychism.<ref name= Skrbina /> The physicist [[Arthur Eddington]] also defended a form of panpsychism.<ref name="pn-goff"/> The psychologists [[Gerard Heymans]], [[James Ward (psychologist)|James Ward]] and [[Charles Augustus Strong]] also endorsed variants of panpsychism.<ref>Calvert, Ernest Reid. (1942). [https://archive.org/stream/panpsychismofjam00calv#page/n1/mode/2up The ''Panpsychism of James Ward and Charles A. Strong'']. Boston University.</ref><ref name="Skrbina-2005" />{{rp|158}}<ref>Blamauer, Michael. (2011). ''The Mental as Fundamental: New Perspectives on Panpsychism''. Ontos. p. 35. {{ISBN|978-3-86838-114-6}}</ref>

In 1990, the physicist [[David Bohm]] published "A new theory of the relationship of mind and matter," a paper based on his [[Interpretations of quantum mechanics|interpretation of quantum mechanics]].<ref name="bohm-1990">{{cite journal|last1=Bohm|first1=David|author-link1=David Bohm|title=A new theory of the relationship of mind and matter|journal=Philosophical Psychology|date=1990|volume=3|issue=2|pages=271–286|doi=10.1080/09515089008573004}}</ref> The philosopher [[Paavo Pylkkänen]] has described Bohm's view as a version of panprotopsychism.<ref name="p-p-bohm">{{cite book|last1=Pylkkänen|first1=Paavo T. I.|title=Mind, Matter and the Implicate Order|date=2006|publisher=Springer|location=Berlin|isbn=9783540480587|page=38|s2cid=34480497|url=https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/366a/8509fb297d9c3964a026cc9fda4e8c0b533a.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191104213526/https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/366a/8509fb297d9c3964a026cc9fda4e8c0b533a.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-date=2019-11-04|access-date=1 June 2020}}</ref>

One widespread misconception is that the arguably greatest systematic metaphysician of the 20th century, [[Alfred North Whitehead]], was also panpsychism's most significant 20th century proponent.<ref name= Seager /> This misreading attributes to Whitehead an [[ontology]] according to which the basic nature of the world is made up of [[atom]]ic mental events, termed "actual occasions".<ref name= Seager /><ref name= Skrbina /> But rather than signifying such exotic metaphysical objects—which would in fact exemplify the [[Reification (fallacy)|fallacy of misplaced concreteness]] Whitehead criticizes—Whitehead's concept of "actual occasion" refers to the "immediate experienced occasion" of any possible perceiver, having in mind only himself as perceiver at the outset, in accordance with his strong commitment to [[radical empiricism]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Auxier|first1=Randall|last2=Herstein|first2=Gary|title=The Quantum of Explanation: Whitehead's Radical Empiricism|date=2017|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1138700161|pages=39–49; 66–81}}</ref>

=== Contemporary ===
Panpsychism has recently seen a resurgence in the [[philosophy of mind]], set into motion by [[Thomas Nagel]]'s 1979 article "Panpsychism"<ref>[[Thomas Nagel|Nagel, Thomas]] (1979), "Panpsychism", in {{cite book|last = Nagel|first = Thomas|title = Mortal questions|publisher = Canto|location = London|year = 1979|pages = 181–195}}</ref> and further spurred by [[Galen Strawson]]'s 2006 [[Realistic monism|realistic monist]] article "Realistic Monism: Why Physicalism Entails Panpsychism".<ref name="coleman-nagel">{{cite journal|last1=Coleman|first1=Sam|title=The Evolution of Nagel's Panpsychism|journal=Klesis|date=2018|volume=41|url=https://www.revue-klesis.org/pdf/Klesis-41-Nagel-08-Sam-Coleman-The-Evolution-of-Nagel-s-Panpsychism.pdf|access-date=19 September 2019}}</ref><ref name="Nagel"/><ref name="Strawson">[[Galen Strawson|Strawson, Galen]] (2006). "Realistic Monism: Why Physicalism Entails Panpsychism". ''[[Journal of Consciousness Studies]]''. Volume 13, No 10–11, Exeter, Imprint Academic pp. 3–31.</ref> Other recent proponents include American philosophers [[David Ray Griffin]]<ref name="sep-panpsych"/> and David Skrbina,<ref name="Seager"/><ref name="Skrbina-2005"/> British philosophers Gregg Rosenberg,<ref name="sep-panpsych"/> [[Timothy Sprigge]],<ref name="sep-panpsych"/> and [[Philip Goff (Philosopher)|Philip Goff]],<ref name="pn-goff"/><ref name="SA-20200114">{{cite web|last=Cook|first=Gareth|title=Does Consciousness Pervade the Universe? – Philosopher Philip Goff answers questions about 'panpsychism'|url=https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/does-consciousness-pervade-the-universe/|date=14 January 2020|work=[[Scientific American]]|access-date=14 January 2020}}</ref> and Canadian philosopher [[William Seager (philosopher)|William Seager]].<ref name="seager2006">{{cite journal|last1=Seager|first1=William|author-link1=William Seager (philosopher)|title=The Intrinsic Nature Argument for Panpsychism|journal=Journal of Consciousness Studies|date=2006|volume=13|issue=10–11|pages=129–145|url=https://www.utsc.utoronto.ca/~seager/intnat.pdf|access-date=7 February 2019}}</ref> The British philosopher [[David Papineau]], while distancing himself from orthodox panpsychists, has written that his view is "not unlike panpsychism" in that he rejects a line in nature between "events lit up by phenomenology [and] those that are mere darkness".<ref name="papineau-kriegel">{{cite encyclopedia|last=Papineau|first=David|author-link=David Papineau|editor-last=Kriegel|editor-first=Uriah|encyclopedia=Oxford Handbook of the Philosophy of Consciousness|publisher=Oxford University Press|url=https://www.achrafkassioui.com/resources/David%20Papineau%20-%20The%20Problem%20of%20Consciousness.pdf|access-date=24 September 2019|title=The Problem of Consciousness}}</ref><ref name="panpsycast">{{cite podcast| url=https://thepanpsycast.com/panpsycast2/2017/7/30/episode-25-philip-goff-and-david-papineau-debate-can-science-explain-consciousness-part-ii| title=Episode 25, Philip Goff and David Papineau Debate: 'Can Science Explain Consciousness?' (Part II)| date=3 September 2017| publisher=The Panpsycast Philosophy Podcast| time=00:27:17| quote=No, as it happens, I don't think it's crazy. I'm rather sympathetic to panpsychism. But not for the reasons you [Philip Goff] give.| access-date=25 September 2019| archive-date=25 September 2019| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190925002059/https://thepanpsycast.com/panpsycast2/2017/7/30/episode-25-philip-goff-and-david-papineau-debate-can-science-explain-consciousness-part-ii| url-status=dead}}</ref>

The [[integrated information theory]] of consciousness (IIT), proposed by the neuroscientist and psychiatrist [[Giulio Tononi]] in 2004 and since adopted by other neuroscientists such as [[Christof Koch]], postulates that consciousness is widespread and can be found even in some simple systems.<ref name="tononi+koch">{{cite journal|last1=Tononi|first1=Giulio|author-link1=Giulio Tononi|last2=Koch|first2=Christof|author-link2=Christof Koch|title=Consciousness: here, there and everywhere?|journal=Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences|date=March 2015|volume=370|issue=1668|pages=20140167|doi=10.1098/rstb.2014.0167|pmid=25823865|pmc=4387509}}</ref>

In 2019, [[Cognitive science|cognitive scientist]] Donald Hoffman published ''The Case Against Reality: How evolution hid the truth from our eyes.'' Hoffman argues that [[consensus reality]] lacks concrete existence, and is nothing more than an evolved [[User interface|user-interface]]. He argues that the true nature of reality is abstract "conscious agents".<ref name=":7">{{Cite web|last=CircleSoft|title=The Case Against Reality|url=https://www.thebookroomatbyron.com/p/history-the-case-against-reality|access-date=2020-09-01|website=The Book Room at Byron|language=en|archive-date=2020-08-10|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200810185656/https://www.thebookroomatbyron.com/p/history-the-case-against-reality|url-status=dead}}</ref> Science editor [[Annaka Harris]] argues that panpsychism is a viable theory in her 2019 book ''Conscious'', though she stops short of fully endorsing it.<ref name="kirkus-harris">{{cite web|last1=Kirkus Reviews|title=Conscious: A Brief Guide to the Fundamental Mystery of the Mind|url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/annaka-harris/conscious/|website=Kirkus Reviews|access-date=19 September 2019}}</ref><ref name="harris-areo">{{cite web|last1=Epstein|first1=Dmitry|title=Annaka Harris's 'Conscious' and the Trap of Dualism|url=https://areomagazine.com/2019/08/23/annaka-harriss-conscious-and-the-trap-of-dualism/|website=Areo Magazine|access-date=19 September 2019|date=23 August 2019}}</ref>

Panpsychism has been postulated by psychoanalyst [[Robin S. Brown]] as a means to theorizing relations between "inner" and "outer" tropes in the context of psychotherapy.<ref>Brown, R.S. (2020). [https://www.routledge.com/Groundwork-for-a-Transpersonal-Psychoanalysis-Spirituality-Relationship/Brown/p/book/9781138571891 ''Groundwork for a Transpersonal Psychoanalysis: Spirituality, Relationship, and Participation'']. Abingdon, UK; New York: Routledge.</ref> Panpsychism has also been applied in environmental philosophy by Australian philosopher [[Freya Mathews]],<ref>{{cite journal|last=Lucas|first=Rebecca Garcia|year=2005|title=''For Love of Matter: A Contemporary Panpsychism'' by Freya Mathews|journal=[[Environmental Values]]|volume=14|issue=4|pages=523–524|doi=10.1177/096327190501400410 }}</ref> who has put forward the notion of [[ontopoetics]] as a version of panpsychism.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Iovino|first1=Serenella|title=Material Ecocriticism|last2=Oppermann|first2=Serpil|publisher=Indiana University Press|year=2014|isbn=978-0-253-01395-8|location=Bloomington, Indiana|pages=285}}</ref>

The geneticist [[Sewall Wright]] endorsed a version of panpsychism. He believed that consciousness is not a mysterious property emerging at a certain level of the hierarchy of increasing material complexity, but rather an inherent property, implying the most elementary particles have these properties.<ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.1007/s10739-006-9105-5|title=Panpsychic Organicism: Sewall Wright's Philosophy for Understanding Complex Genetic Systems|year=2007|last1=Steffes|first1=David M.|journal=[[Journal of the History of Biology]]|volume=40|issue=2|pages=327–361|pmid=18175605|s2cid=3255830}}</ref>

== Varieties ==
Panpsychism encompasses many theories, united only by the notion that mind in some form is ubiquitous.<ref name="Skrbina"/>

=== Philosophical frameworks ===
==== Cosmopsychism ====
Cosmopsychism hypothesizes that the cosmos is a [[Monism|unified object that is ontologically prior to its parts]]. It has been described as an alternative to panpsychism,<ref name="nagasawa-wager">{{Citation|last1=Nagasawa|first1=Yujin|title=Panpsychism and Priority Cosmopsychism|date=2016-12-29|url=https://philarchive.org/rec/NAGPAP-2|work=Panpsychism|pages=113–129|publisher=Oxford University Press|language=en-US|doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199359943.003.0005|isbn=9780199359943|last2=Wager|first2=Khai}}.</ref> or as a form of panpsychism.<ref name="goff-2017">{{Cite journal|last=Goff|first=Philip|author-link=Philip Goff (Philosopher)|date=2017-08-24|title=Consciousness and Fundamental Reality|url=http://www.oxfordscholarship.com/view/10.1093/oso/9780190677015.001.0001/oso-9780190677015|journal=Oxford Scholarship Online|volume=1 |language=en-US|doi=10.1093/oso/9780190677015.001.0001|isbn=9780190677015|url-access=subscription}}</ref> Proponents of cosmopsychism claim that the cosmos as a whole is the fundamental level of reality and that it instantiates consciousness. They differ on that point from panpsychists, who usually claim that the smallest level of reality is fundamental and instantiates consciousness. Accordingly, human consciousness, for example, merely derives from a larger cosmic consciousness.

==== Panexperientialism ====
Panexperientialism is associated with the philosophies of, among others, [[Charles Hartshorne]] and [[Alfred North Whitehead]], although the term itself was invented by [[David Ray Griffin]] to distinguish the [[process philosophy|process philosophical]] view from other varieties of panpsychism.<ref name="Skrbina" /> Whitehead's [[process philosophy]] argues that the fundamental elements of the universe are "occasions of experience", which can together create something as complex as a human being.<ref name="Seager" /> Building on Whitehead's work, process philosopher [[Michel Weber]] argues for a pancreativism.<ref>See, e.g., his [https://www.academia.edu/279953/Whiteheads_Pancreativism._The_Basics Whitehead's Pancreativism. The Basics] (Foreword by Nicholas Rescher, Frankfurt / Paris, Ontos Verlag, 2006).</ref> Goff has used the term ''panexperientialism'' more generally to refer to forms of panpsychism in which experience rather than thought is ubiquitous.<ref name="sep-panpsych" />

==== Panprotopsychism ====
Panprotopsychists believe that higher-order phenomenal properties (such as [[qualia]]) are [[Logical consequence|logically entailed]] by protophenomenal properties, at least in principle. This is similar to how facts about H<sub>2</sub>O molecules logically entail facts about water: the lower-level facts are sufficient to explain the higher-order facts, since the former logically entail the latter. It also makes sense of questions about the unity of consciousness relating to the diversity of phenomenal experiences and the deflation of the self.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198508571.001.0001|title=The Unity of Consciousness: Binding, Integration, and Dissociation|last=Frith|first=Chris|date=2012|website=academic.oup.com|doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198508571.001.0001 |isbn=978-0-19-850857-1 }}</ref> Adherents of panprotopsychism believe that "protophenomenal" facts logically entail consciousness. Protophenomenal properties are usually picked out through a combination of functional and negative definitions: panphenomenal properties are those that logically entail phenomenal properties (a functional definition), which are themselves neither physical nor phenomenal (a negative definition).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://consc.net/papers/panpsychism.pdf|title=Panpsychism and Panprotopsychism|last=Chalmers|first=David|date=2013|website=consc.net}}</ref>

Panprotopsychism is advertised as a solution to the [[#Combination problem|combination problem]]: the problem of explaining how the consciousness of microscopic physical things might combine to give rise to the macroscopic consciousness of the whole brain. Because protophenomenal properties are by definition the constituent parts of consciousness, it is speculated that their existence would make the emergence of macroscopic minds less mysterious.<ref name="chalmers-panpsych" /> The philosopher [[David Chalmers]] argues that the view faces difficulty with the combination problem. He considers it "ad hoc", and believes it diminishes the parsimony that made the theory initially interesting.<ref name=":3">[[David Chalmers]] (1996) ''[[The Conscious Mind: In Search of a Fundamental Theory]]'', pp. 153–156. Oxford University Press, New York, {{ISBN|0-19-511789-1}}.</ref>

==== Russellian monism ====
{{Wikisource|Mysticism and Logic and Other Essays/Chapter 08|The Relation of Sense-Data to Physics}}

{{Wikisource|The Analysis of Mind}}

Russellian monism is a type of [[#Neutral monism|neutral monism]].<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":2" /> The theory is attributed to [[Bertrand Russell]], and may also be called ''Russell's panpsychism,'' or ''Russell's neutral monism''.<ref name="chalmers-panpsych" /><ref name=":3" /> Russell believed that all [[Causality|causal]] properties are [[Intrinsic and extrinsic properties|extrinsic]] manifestations of identical [[Intrinsic and extrinsic properties|intrinsic]] properties. Russell called these identical internal properties ''quiddities''. Just as the extrinsic properties of matter can form higher-order structure, so can their corresponding and identical quiddities. Russell believed the conscious mind was one such structure.<ref name=":10">{{Citation|last1=Alter|first1=Torin|title=Russellian Monism|date=2019|url=https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2019/entries/russellian-monism/|encyclopedia=The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy|editor-last=Zalta|editor-first=Edward N.|edition=Fall 2019|publisher=Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University|access-date=2020-08-31|last2=Pereboom|first2=Derk}}.</ref><ref name="chalmers-panpsych" />

=== Religious or mystical ontologies ===
==== Advaita Vedānta ====
{{Main|Advaita Vedanta}}

Advaita Vedānta is a form of [[#Idealism|idealism]] in [[Indian philosophy]] which views [[consensus reality]] as illusory.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Vedanta, Advaita {{!}} Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy|url=https://iep.utm.edu/adv-veda/|access-date=2020-09-01|language=en-US}}</ref> Anand Vaidya and [[Purushottama Bilimoria]] have argued that it can be considered a form of panpsychism or [[#Cosmopsychism|cosmopsychism]].<ref name="vaidya-bilimoria">{{cite journal|last1=Vaidya|first1=Anand|last2=Bilimoria|first2=Purushottama|title=Advaita Vedanta and the Mind Extension Hypothesis: Panpsychism and Perception|journal=Journal of Consciousness Studies|date=2015|volume=22|issue=7–8|pages=201–225}}</ref>

==== Animism and hylozoism ====
{{Further|Animism|Hylozoism}}

Animism maintains that all things have a soul, and hylozoism maintains that all things are alive.<ref name="Skrbina" /> Both could reasonably be interpreted as panpsychist, but both have fallen out of favour in contemporary academia.<ref name="Skrbina" /> Modern panpsychists have tried to distance themselves from theories of this sort, careful to carve out the distinction between the ubiquity of experience and the ubiquity of mind and cognition.<ref name="sep-panpsych" /><ref name="Chalmers-combination" />

====Panpsychism and metempsychosis====

Between 1840 and 1864, the Austrian mystic [[Jakob Lorber]] claimed to have received a 26-volume revelation. Various books of the Lorber Revelations say that specifica, closely resembling Leibniz's [[monad (philosophy)|monads]], form the most basic, irreducible substance of all physical and metaphysical creation.<ref>{{cite web |last=Lorber |first=Jakob |date=January 30, 1847 |title=Earth and Moon |page=50  |url=https://www.inner-word.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Earth-and-Moon.pdf |website=Inner-word.com}} </ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Lorber |first=Jakob |date=February 9, 1847 |title=Earth and Moon |page=64 |url=https://www.inner-word.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Earth-and-Moon.pdf |website=Inner-word.com}} </ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Lorber |first=Jakob |date=March 4, 1847 |title=Earth and Moon |page=102 |url=https://www.inner-word.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Earth-and-Moon.pdf |website=Inner-word.com}} </ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Lorber |first=Jakob |date=March 6, 1847 |title=Earth and Moon |page=107 |url=https://www.inner-word.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Earth-and-Moon.pdf |website=Inner-word.com}} </ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Lorber |first=Jakob |date=March 8, 1847 |title=Earth and Moon |page=110 |url=https://www.inner-word.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Earth-and-Moon.pdf |website=Inner-word.com}}</ref> According to the Lorber Revelations, specifica grow in complexity and intelligence to form ever higher level clusters of intelligence until a fully intelligent human soul is reached.<ref>{{cite web |last=Hoffmann |first=Albert |date=2019 |title=Intelligence, the foundation of matter |pages=5–9 |url=https://1flock1shepherd.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Intelligence-in-matter-edited.pdf |website=One Flock One Shepherd Community |publisher=AK Hoffmann}} </ref> In this scenario panpsychism and [[metempsychosis]] are used to overcome the [[combination problem]].

==== Buddha-nature ====
{{Main|Buddha-nature}}

[[File:RyoanJi-Dry garden.jpg|thumb|right|213x213px|In the art of the [[Japanese rock garden]], the artist must be aware of the "ishigokoro" ('heart', or 'mind') of the rocks.<ref name=Parks />]]

[[Buddha-nature]] is an important and multifaceted doctrine in [[Mahayana|Mahayana Buddhism]] that is related to the capacity to attain [[Buddhahood]].<ref>{{Cite web|date=2017-06-25|title=Why Buddha Nature is one of the most important understandings in Mahayana Buddhism and why Tathagatagarbha Buddha Nature is not the soul|url=https://buddhaweekly.com/buddha-nature-one-important-understandings-mahayana-buddhism-tathagatagarbha-buddha-nature-not-soul/|access-date=2020-09-01|website=Buddha Weekly: Buddhist Practices, Mindfulness, Meditation|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Definition of BUDDHA-NATURE|url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Buddha-nature|access-date=2020-09-01|website=www.merriam-webster.com|language=en}}</ref> In numerous Indian sources, the idea is connected to the mind, especially the Buddhist concept of the [[luminous mind]].<ref>Wayman, Alex and Hideko (1990), ''The Lion's roar of Queen Srimala'', p. 42. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers</ref> In some Buddhist traditions, the Buddha-nature doctrine may be interpreted as implying a form of panpsychism. Graham Parks argues that most "traditional Chinese, Japanese and Korean philosophy would qualify as panpsychist in nature".<ref name="Parks" />

The [[Huayan school|Huayan]], [[Tiantai]], and [[Tendai]] schools of Buddhism explicitly attribute Buddha-nature to inanimate objects such as lotus flowers and mountains.<ref name="Clarke" />{{rp|39}} This idea was defended by figures such as the Tiantai patriarch [[Zhanran]], who spoke of the Buddha-nature of grasses and trees.<ref name="Parks" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Groner, Paul, 1946– |title=Saichō : the establishment of the Japanese Tiandai School : with a new preface |date=2000 |publisher=University of Hawai'i Press |isbn=0-8248-2371-0 |location=Honolulu |oclc=44650918}}</ref> Similarly, [[Soto Zen]] master [[Dogen]] argued that "insentient beings expound" the teachings of the Buddha, and wrote about the "mind" (心, ''shin'') of "fences, walls, tiles, and pebbles". The 9th-century [[Shingon Buddhism|Shingon]] figure [[Kukai]] went so far as to argue that natural objects such as rocks and stones are part of the supreme embodiment of the Buddha. According to Parks, Buddha-nature is best described "in western terms" as something "''psychophysical".''<ref name="Parks">Parks, Graham. "The awareness of rocks". Skrbina David, ed. ''Mind that Abides''. Chapter 17.</ref>

=== Scientific theories ===
==== Conscious realism ====
{{Blockquote|text=It is a natural and near-universal assumption that the world has the properties and causal structures that we perceive it to have; to paraphrase Einstein's famous remark, we naturally assume that the moon is there whether anyone looks or not. Both theoretical and empirical considerations, however, increasingly indicate that this is not correct.|author=Donald Hoffman|title=Conscious agent networks: Formal analysis and applications to cognition|source=}}

{{See also|Map–territory relation}}

Conscious realism is a theory proposed by [[Donald D. Hoffman|Donald Hoffman]], a cognitive scientist specialising in perception. He has written numerous papers on the topic<ref>Publications, Donald D. Hoffman.</ref> which he summarised in his 2019 book ''The Case Against Reality: How evolution hid the truth from our eyes.''<ref name=":7" /> Conscious realism builds upon Hoffman's former ''User-Interface Theory''. In combination they argue that (1) [[consensus reality]] and spacetime are illusory, and are merely a "species specific evolved user interface"; (2) Reality is made of a complex, dimensionless, and timeless network of "conscious agents".<ref>{{Cite web|last=Amanda Gefter|title=The Evolutionary Argument Against Reality|url=https://www.quantamagazine.org/the-evolutionary-argument-against-reality-20160421/|access-date=2020-09-01|website=Quanta Magazine|date=21 April 2016|language=en}}</ref>

The consensus view is that perception is a reconstruction of one's environment. Hoffman views perception as a construction rather than a reconstruction. He argues that perceptual systems are analogous to information channels, and thus subject to [[data compression]] and reconstruction. The set of possible reconstructions for any given data set is quite large. Of that set, the subset that is [[Homomorphism|homomorphic]] in relation to the original is minuscule, and does not necessarily—or, seemingly, even often—overlap with the subset that is efficient or easiest to use.

For example, consider a graph, such as a pie chart. A pie chart is easy to understand and use not because it is perfectly homomorphic with the data it represents, but because it is not. If a graph of, for example, the chemical composition of the human body were to look exactly like a human body, then we could not understand it. It is only because the graph abstracts away from the structure of its subject matter that it can be visualized. Alternatively, consider a graphical user interface on a computer. The reason graphical user interfaces are useful is that they abstract away from lower-level computational processes, such as machine code, or the physical state of a circuit-board. In general, it seems that data is most useful to us when it is abstracted from its original structure and repackaged in a way that is easier to understand, even if this comes at the cost of accuracy. Hoffman offers the "fitness beats truth theorem"<ref>Prakash, Stephens, Hoffman, Singh, Fields. "Fitness Beats Truth in the Evolution of Perception". http://cogsci.uci.edu/~ddhoff/FBT-7-30-17.</ref> as mathematical proof that perceptions of reality bear little resemblance to reality's true nature.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2019-08-09|title=Experiencing a virtual interface|url=https://bigthink.com/surprising-science/does-reality-exist?rebelltitem=2#rebelltitem2?rebelltitem=2|access-date=2020-08-31|website=Big Think|language=en}}</ref> From this he concludes that our senses do not faithfully represent the external world.

Even if reality is an illusion, Hoffman takes consciousness as an indisputable fact. He represents rudimentary units of consciousness (which he calls "conscious agents") as [[Markovian kernel]]s. Though the theory was not initially panpsychist, he reports that he and his colleague Chetan Prakash found the math to be more [[Occam's razor|parsimonious]] if it were.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Making Sense Podcast #178 – The Reality Illusion|url=https://samharris.org/podcasts/178-reality-illusion/|access-date=2020-09-01|website=Sam Harris|language=en-US}}</ref> They hypothesize that reality is composed of these conscious agents, who interact to form "larger, more complex" networks.<ref>Fields, Chris; Hoffman, Donald; Prakash, Chetan; Singh, Manish. [http://cogsci.uci.edu/~ddhoff/CA-circuits-CSR-rev.pdf Conscious agent networks: Formal analysis and application to cognition].</ref><ref name=":7" />[[File:Axioms_and_postulates_of_integrated_information_theory.jpg|thumb|221x221px|Axioms and postulates of integrated information theory]]

==== Integrated information theory ====
{{Main|Integrated information theory}}

[[Giulio Tononi]] first articulated Integrated information theory (IIT) in 2004,<ref name=":5">{{Cite journal|last=Tononi|first=Giulio|date=2004-11-02|title=An information integration theory of consciousness|journal=BMC Neuroscience|volume=5|issue=1|pages=42|doi=10.1186/1471-2202-5-42|issn=1471-2202|pmc=543470|pmid=15522121|doi-access=free}}</ref> and it has undergone two major revisions since then.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Oizumi|first1=Masafumi|last2=Albantakis|first2=Larissa|last3=Tononi|first3=Giulio|date=2014-05-08|title=From the Phenomenology to the Mechanisms of Consciousness: Integrated Information Theory 3.0|journal=PLOS Computational Biology|volume=10|issue=5|pages=e1003588|doi=10.1371/journal.pcbi.1003588|issn=1553-734X|pmc=4014402|pmid=24811198|bibcode=2014PLSCB..10E3588O|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Tononi|first=Giulio|date=2015-01-22|title=Integrated information theory|journal=Scholarpedia|language=en|volume=10|issue=1|pages=4164|doi=10.4249/scholarpedia.4164|bibcode=2015SchpJ..10.4164T|issn=1941-6016|doi-access=free}}</ref> Tononi approaches consciousness from a scientific perspective, and has expressed frustration with philosophical theories of consciousness for lacking [[predictive power]].<ref name="tononi+koch" /> Though integral to his theory, he refrains from philosophical terminology such as ''[[qualia]]'' or the ''[[unity of consciousness]],'' instead opting for mathematically precise alternatives like ''entropy function'' and ''information integration''.<ref name=":5" /> This has allowed Tononi to create a measurement for integrated information, which he calls ''phi'' (Φ). He believes consciousness is nothing but integrated information, so Φ measures consciousness.<ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.1371/journal.pcbi.1006343|title=Py ''Phi'': A toolbox for integrated information theory|year=2018|last1=Mayner|first1=William G. P.|last2=Marshall|first2=William|last3=Albantakis|first3=Larissa|last4=Findlay|first4=Graham|last5=Marchman|first5=Robert|last6=Tononi|first6=Giulio|journal=PLOS Computational Biology|volume=14|issue=7|pages=e1006343|pmid=30048445|pmc=6080800|arxiv=1712.09644|bibcode=2018PLSCB..14E6343M|doi-access=free}}</ref> As it turns out, even basic objects or substances have a nonzero degree of Φ. This would mean that consciousness is ubiquitous, albeit to a minimal degree.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Mørch|first=Hedda Hassel|date=2019-10-01|title=Is the Integrated Information Theory of Consciousness Compatible with Russellian Panpsychism?|journal=Erkenntnis|language=en|volume=84|issue=5|pages=1065–1085|doi=10.1007/s10670-018-9995-6|hdl=10852/71730|s2cid=126396603|issn=1572-8420|hdl-access=free}}</ref>

The philosopher Hedda Hassel Mørch's views IIT as similar to [[#Russellian monism|Russellian monism]],<ref name="Morch-iit">{{cite journal|last1=Mørch|first1=Hedda Hassel|title=Is the Integrated Information Theory of Consciousness Compatible with Russellian Panpsychism?|journal=Erkenntnis|date=2019|volume=84|issue=5|pages=1065–1085|doi=10.1007/s10670-018-9995-6|hdl=10852/71730|s2cid=126396603|hdl-access=free}}</ref> while other philosophers, such as Chalmers and [[John Searle]], consider it a form of panpsychism.<ref name=":4" /><ref>{{Cite web|title=How do you explain consciousness? {{!}} David Chalmers – YouTube|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhRhtFFhNzQ|access-date=2020-08-31|website=www.youtube.com}}</ref> IIT does not hold that all systems are conscious, leading Tononi and Koch to state that IIT incorporates some elements of panpsychism but not others.<ref name="tononi+koch" /> Koch has called IIT a "scientifically refined version" of panpsychism.<ref>{{cite magazine|last1=Keim|first1=Brandon|title=A Neuroscientist's Radical Theory of How Networks Become Conscious|magazine=Wired|date=November 14, 2013|url=https://www.wired.com/2013/11/christof-koch-panpsychism-consciousness/}}</ref>

==In relation to other theories==
[[File:Dualism-vs-Monism.png|thumb|right|A diagram depicting four positions on the [[mind-body problem]]. Versions of panpsychism have been likened to each of these positions as well as contrasted to them.]]

Because panpsychism encompasses a wide range of theories, it can in principle be compatible with [[reductive materialism]], [[Mind–body dualism|dualism]], [[Functionalism (philosophy of mind)|functionalism]], or other perspectives depending on the details of a given formulation.<ref name="Skrbina"/>

=== Dualism ===
{{further|Mind–body dualism}}

David Chalmers and Philip Goff have each described panpsychism as an alternative to both [[materialism]] and dualism.<ref name="chalmers-panpsych"/><ref name="pn-goff"/> Chalmers says panpsychism respects the conclusions of both the causal argument against dualism and the [[conceivability argument]] for dualism.<ref name="chalmers-panpsych"/> Goff has argued that panpsychism avoids the disunity of dualism, under which mind and matter are [[Ontology|ontologically]] separate, as well as dualism's problems explaining how mind and matter interact.<ref name="sep-panpsych"/> By contrast, Uwe Meixner argues that panpsychism has dualist forms, which he contrasts to [[idealist]] forms.<ref name="meixner">{{cite encyclopedia|last1=Meixner|first1=Uwe|editor1-last=Brüntrup|editor1-first=Godehard|editor2-last=Jaskolla|editor2-first=Ludwig|encyclopedia=Panpsychism: Contemporary Perspectives|title=Idealism and Panpsychism|date=2016|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=New York|isbn=978-0199359943}}</ref>

=== Emergentism ===
{{Further|Emergentism}}

Panpsychism is incompatible with emergentism.<ref name="Skrbina" /> In general, theories of consciousness fall under one or the other umbrella; they hold either that consciousness is present at a fundamental level of reality (panpsychism) or that it emerges higher up (emergentism).<ref name="Skrbina" />

=== Idealism ===
{{Further|Idealism}}

There is disagreement over whether idealism is a form of panpsychism or a separate view. Both views hold that everything that exists has some form of experience.{{citation needed|date=November 2020}} According to the philosophers William Seager and Sean Allen-Hermanson, "idealists are panpsychists by default".<ref name=":6" /> [[Charles Hartshorne]] contrasted panpsychism and idealism, saying that while idealists rejected the existence of the world observed with the senses or understood it as ideas within the mind of God, panpsychists accepted the reality of the world but saw it as composed of minds.<ref name="Hartshorne">{{cite encyclopedia|last=Hartshorne|first=Charles|author-link=Charles Hartshorne|editor1-last=Ferm|editor1-first=Vergilius|encyclopedia=A History of Philosophical Systems|date=1950|location=New York|publisher=Rider and Company|pages=442–453|url=http://www.anthonyflood.com/hartshornepanpsychism.htm|access-date=6 May 2019|title=Panpsychism}}</ref> Chalmers also contrasts panpsychism with idealism (as well as [[materialism]] and [[Mind–body dualism|dualism]]).<ref name="chalmers-idealism">{{cite encyclopedia|last=Chalmers|first=David J.|author-link=David Chalmers|editor-last=Seager|editor-first=William|editor-link=William Seager (philosopher)|encyclopedia=The Routledge Handbook of Panpsychism|title=Idealism and the Mind-Body Problem|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1138817135| url=http://consc.net/papers/idealism.pdf|access-date=2 December 2019|date=2020}}</ref> Meixner writes that formulations of panpsychism can be divided into dualist and idealist versions.<ref name="meixner"/> He further divides the latter into "atomistic idealistic panpsychism", which he ascribes to [[David Hume]], and "holistic idealistic panpsychism", which he favors.<ref name="meixner" />

=== Neutral monism ===
{{Main|Neutral monism}}

Neutral monism rejects the dichotomy of mind and matter, instead taking a third substance as fundamental that is neither mental nor physical. Proposals for the nature of the third substance have varied, with some theorists choosing to leave it undefined. This has led to a variety of formulations of neutral monism, which may overlap with other philosophies. In versions of neutral monism in which the world's fundamental constituents are neither mental nor physical, it is quite distinct from panpsychism. In versions where the fundamental constituents are both mental and physical, neutral monism may lead to panpsychism, panprotopsychism, or [[dual aspect theory]].<ref name="sep-nm">{{cite encyclopedia|last=Stubenberg|first=Leopold|editor-last=Zalta|editor-first=Edward N.|editor-link=Edward N. Zalta|encyclopedia=Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy|title=Neutral monism|year=2016|url=https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/neutral-monism/|access-date=15 September 2018}}</ref>

In ''[[The Conscious Mind]],'' David Chalmers writes that, in some instances, the differences between "Russell's neutral monism" and his [[property dualism]] are merely semantic.<ref name=":3" /> Philip Goff believes that neutral monism can reasonably be regarded as a form of panpsychism "in so far as it is a dual aspect view".<ref name="sep-panpsych" /> Neutral monism, panpsychism, and dual aspect theory are grouped together or used interchangeably in some contexts.<ref name=":3" /><ref name="Chalmers-caipin" /><ref name="jw-iep" />

=== Physicalism and materialism ===
{{Further|Physicalism|Materialism}}

Chalmers calls panpsychism an alternative to both materialism and dualism.<ref name="chalmers-panpsych" /> Similarly, Goff calls panpsychism an alternative to both physicalism and [[substance dualism]].<ref name="pn-goff" /> Strawson, on the other hand, describes panpsychism as a form of physicalism, in his view the only viable form.<ref name="Strawson" /> Panpsychism can be combined with [[reductive materialism]] but cannot be combined with [[eliminative materialism]] because the latter denies the existence of the relevant mental attributes.<ref name="Skrbina"/>

== Arguments for ==
=== Hard problem of consciousness ===
{{Blockquote|text=But what consciousness is, we know not; and how it is that anything so remarkable as a state of consciousness comes about as the result of irritating nervous tissue, is just as unaccountable as the appearance of the Djin when Aladdin rubbed his lamp in the story, or as any other ultimate fact of nature.|author=Thomas Henry Huxley (1896)|title=|source=}}{{Main|Hard problem of consciousness}}

It evidently feels like something to be a human brain.<ref>Nagel, Thomas. "[http://www.philosopher.eu/others-writings/nagel-what-is-it-like-to-be-a-bat/ What is it Like to be a Bat?]". From ''The Philosophical Review'' LXXXIII, 4 (October 1974), pp. 435–450.</ref> This means that when things in the world are organised in a particular way, they begin to have an experience. The questions of ''why'' and ''how'' this material structure has experience, and why it has ''that'' particular experience rather than another experience, are known as the ''[[hard problem of consciousness]]''.<ref name="jw-iep" /> The term is attributed to Chalmers. He argues that even after "all the perceptual and cognitive functions within the vicinity of consciousness" are accounted for, "there may still remain a further unanswered question: ''Why is the performance of these functions accompanied by experience?"''<ref name=":11">{{Cite journal|last=Chalmers|first=David J.|date=1995|title=Facing Up to the Problem of Consciousness|url=https://philpapers.org/rec/CHAFUT|journal=Journal of Consciousness Studies|volume=2|issue=3|pages=200–19}}</ref>

Though Chalmers gave the hard problem of consciousness its present name, similar views were expressed before. [[Isaac Newton]],<ref>{{Citation|last1=Goff|first1=Philip|title=Panpsychism|date=2020|url=https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2020/entries/panpsychism/|encyclopedia=The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy|editor-last=Zalta|editor-first=Edward N.|edition=Summer 2020|publisher=Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University|access-date=2020-09-03|last2=Seager|first2=William|last3=Allen-Hermanson|first3=Sean|author-link=Philip Goff (Philosopher)}}.</ref> [[John Locke]],<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Lisman|first=John E.|date=2017-06-23|title=Locke's View of the Hard Problem of Consciousness and Its Implications for Neuroscience and Computer Science|journal=Frontiers in Psychology|volume=8|page=1069|doi=10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01069|issn=1664-1078|pmc=5481348|pmid=28690580|doi-access=free}}</ref> [[Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz|Gottfried Leibniz]],<ref>{{Citation|last1=Kulstad|first1=Mark|title=Leibniz's Philosophy of Mind|date=2020|url=https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2020/entries/leibniz-mind/|encyclopedia=The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy|editor-last=Zalta|editor-first=Edward N.|edition=Fall 2020|publisher=Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University|access-date=2020-09-03|last2=Carlin|first2=Laurence}}.</ref> [[John Stuart Mill]],<ref>Mill, John Stuart. A System of Logic (1843), Book V, Chapter V, Section 3.</ref> [[Thomas Henry Huxley]],<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Huxley|first1=Thomas Henry|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aVUAAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA178|title=The Elements of Physiology and Hygiene: A Text-book for Educational Institutions|last2=Youmans|first2=William Jay|date=1868|publisher=D. Appleton|language=en}}</ref> [[Wilhelm Wundt]],<ref name="Seager" /> all wrote about the seeming incompatibility of third-person functional descriptions of mind and matter and first-person conscious experience. Likewise, Asian philosophers like [[Dharmakirti]] and [[Guifeng Zongmi]] discussed the problem of how consciousness arises from unconscious matter.<ref>Chalmers, David J. ''[http://consc.net/papers/universal.pdf Is the Hard Problem of Consciousness Universal?].''</ref><ref>Arnold, Dan (2015) ''Philosophy of Mind's Hard Problem in Light of Buddhist Idealism'', in Steven Emmanuel, ed., Philosophy's Perennial Questions: Comparing Buddhist and Western Approaches.</ref><ref>Bryan Van Norden, {{Citation|title=Buddhism Comes to China|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1xv3HmUddY|language=en|access-date=2021-12-29}}.</ref><ref>Tiwald, Justin; Van Norden, Bryan W. eds. (2005), ''Readings in Later Chinese Philosophy,'' p. 101. Hackett Publishing.</ref> Similar sentiments have been articulated through philosophical inquiries such as [[Problem of other minds|the problem of other minds]], [[solipsism]], the [[explanatory gap]], [[philosophical zombie]]s, and [[Mary's room]]. These problems have caused Chalmers to consider panpsychism a viable solution to the hard problem,<ref name="Chalmers-caipin">{{cite encyclopedia|last1=Chalmers|first1=David J.|author-link=David Chalmers|editor1-last=Stich|editor1-first=Stephen P.|editor2-last=Warfield|editor2-first=Ted A.|encyclopedia=The Blackwell Guide to Philosophy of Mind|title=Consciousness and its Place in Nature|date=2003|publisher=Blackwell Publishing Ltd.|location=Malden, MA|isbn=978-0631217756|edition=1st|url=http://consc.net/papers/nature.pdf|access-date=21 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171003182905/http://www.consc.net/papers/nature.pdf|archive-date=3 October 2017}}</ref><ref name="chalmers-panpsych">{{cite book|last1=Chalmers|first1=David|author-link=David Chalmers|editor1-last=Alter|editor1-first=Torin|editor2-last=Nagasawa|editor2-first=Yugin|title=Consciousness in the Physical World: Perspectives on Russellian Monism|date=2015|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford|isbn=978-0-19-992735-7|chapter-url=http://consc.net/papers/panpsychism.pdf|access-date=15 September 2018|chapter=Panpsychism and Panprotopsychism}}</ref><ref name="Chalmers-1996">[[David Chalmers]]. ''[[The Conscious Mind: In Search of a Fundamental Theory]]''. New York: [[Oxford University Press]], 1996.</ref> though he is not committed to any single view.<ref name="Chalmers-caipin" />

Brian Jonathan Garrett has compared the hard problem to [[vitalism]], the now discredited hypothesis that life is inexplicable and can only be understood if some vital life force exists. He maintains that given time, consciousness and its evolutionary origins will be understood just as life is now understood.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Garrett|first=Brian Jonathan|title=What the History of Vitalism Teaches Us About Consciousness and the &quot;Hard Problem&quot;|url=https://www.academia.edu/3664605|journal=Philosophy and Phenomenological Research|year=2006|language=en|volume=72|issue=3|pages=576–588|doi=10.1111/j.1933-1592.2006.tb00584.x|issn=1933-1592}}</ref> Daniel Dennett called the hard problem a "hunch", and maintained that conscious experience, as it is usually understood, is merely a complex cognitive [[Illusionism (consciousness)|illusion]].<ref>Dennett, Daniel. "[https://www.nyu.edu/gsas/dept/philo/courses/consciousness/papers/DD-zombie.html The Zombic Hunch: Extinction of an Intuition?]" ROYAL INSTITUTE OF PHILOSOPHY MILLENNIAL LECTURE. November 28, 1999.</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Dennett|first=Daniel|date=2016|title=Illusionism as an obvious default theory of consciousness|url=https://ase.tufts.edu/cogstud/dennett/papers/illusionism.pdf|journal=Imprint Academic}}</ref> [[Patricia Churchland]], also an [[Eliminative materialism|eliminative materialist]], maintains that philosophers ought to be more patient: neuroscience is still in its early stages, so Chalmers's hard problem is premature. Clarity will come from learning more about the brain, not from metaphysical speculation.<ref>{{Cite web|title=26th Distinguished Lecture on Brain, Learning and Memory with Patricia Churchland – YouTube|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3evq5nIXY8|access-date=2020-08-31|website=www.youtube.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Baggini|first=Julian|title=Out of mind: philosopher Patricia Churchland's radical approach to the study of human consciousness|date=8 October 2019|url=https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/magazine/out-of-mind-philosopher-patricia-churchlands-radical-approach-to-the-study-of-human-consciousness|access-date=2020-08-31|language=en-US}}</ref>

==== Solutions ====
In ''[[The Conscious Mind]]'' (1996), Chalmers attempts to pinpoint why the hard problem is so hard. He concludes that consciousness is ''[[Irreducibility|irreducible]]'' to lower-level physical facts, just as the fundamental laws of physics are irreducible to lower-level physical facts. Therefore, consciousness should be taken as fundamental in its own right and studied as such. Just as fundamental properties of reality are ubiquitous (even small objects have mass), consciousness may also be, though he considers that an open question.<ref name=":3" />

In ''Mortal Questions'' (1979), [[Thomas Nagel]] argues that panpsychism follows from four premises:<ref name="sep-panpsych" /><ref name="Nagel">{{Cite book|last=Nagel|first=Thomas|author-link=Thomas Nagel|title=Mortal Questions|publisher=Cambridge University Press|date=1979}}</ref>{{rp|181}}

* P1: There is no spiritual plane or disembodied soul; everything that exists is [[materialism|material]].
* P2: Consciousness is irreducible to lower-level physical properties.
* P3: Consciousness exists.
* P4: Higher-order properties of matter (i.e., emergent properties) can, at least in principle, be reduced to their lower-level properties.

Before the first premise is accepted, the range of possible explanations for consciousness is fully open. Each premise, if accepted, narrows down that range of possibilities. If the argument is [[Soundness of deductive reasoning|sound]], then by the last premise panpsychism is the only possibility left.

* If (P1) is true, then either consciousness does not exist, or it exists within the physical world.
* If (P2) is true, then either consciousness does not exist, or it (a) exists as distinct property of matter or (b) is fundamentally entailed by matter.
* If (P3) is true, then consciousness exists, and is either (a) its own property of matter or (b) composed by the matter of the brain but not logically entailed by it.
* If (P4) is true, then (b) is false, and consciousness must be its own unique property of matter.

Therefore, if all four premises are true, consciousness is its own unique property of matter and panpsychism is true.<ref name="Nagel" />{{rp|187}}<ref name="Seager" />

=== Mind-body problem ===
{{Blockquote|text=Dualism makes the problem insoluble; materialism denies the existence of any phenomenon to study, and hence of any problem.|author=John R. Searle|title=Consciousness and Language|source=p. 47}}

{{Further|Mind–body problem}}

In 2015, Chalmers proposed a possible solution to the mind-body problem through the argumentative format of [[Thesis, antithesis, synthesis|thesis, antithesis, and synthesis]].<ref name="chalmers-panpsych" /> The goal of such arguments is to argue for sides of a debate (the thesis and antithesis), weigh their vices and merits, and then reconcile them (the synthesis). Chalmers's thesis, antithesis, and synthesis are as follows:
# ''Thesis:'' [[materialism]] is true; everything is fundamentally physical.
# ''Antithesis:'' [[Mind-body dualism|dualism]] is true; not everything is fundamentally physical.
# ''Synthesis:'' panpsychism is true.
(1) A centerpiece of Chalmers's argument is the physical world's [[causal closure]]. [[Newton's law of motion]] explains this phenomenon succinctly: ''for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction''. Cause and effect is a symmetrical process. There is no room for consciousness to exert any causal power on the physical world unless it is itself physical.

(2) On one hand, if consciousness is separate from the physical world then there is no room for it to exert any causal power on the world (a state of affairs philosophers call [[epiphenomenalism]]). If consciousness plays no causal role, then it is unclear how Chalmers could even write this paper. On the other hand, consciousness is irreducible to the physical processes of the brain.

(3) Panpsychism has all the benefits of materialism because it could mean that consciousness is physical while also escaping the grasp of epiphenomenalism. After some argumentation Chalmers narrows it down further to Russellian monism, concluding that thoughts, actions, intentions and emotions may just be the quiddities of neurotransmitters, neurons, and glial cells.<ref name="chalmers-panpsych" />

===Problem of substance===
{{Blockquote|text=Physics is mathematical, not because we know so much about the physical world, but because we know so little: it is only its mathematical properties that we can discover. For the rest our knowledge is negative.|author=Bertrand Russell|title=An Outline of Philosophy (1927)|source=}}{{See also|Intrinsic and extrinsic properties}}
Rather than solely trying to solve the problem of consciousness, Russell also attempted to solve the ''problem of substance'', which is arguably a form of the ''[[Infinite regress|problem of infinite regress]]''.{{citation needed|date=October 2020}}

(1) Like many sciences, physics describes the world through mathematics. Unlike other sciences, physics cannot describe what Schopenhauer called the "object that grounds" mathematics.<ref>Schopenhauer, A. Der Welt als Wille und Vorstellung. Book II, § 17.</ref> Economics is grounded in resources being allocated, and population dynamics is grounded in individual people within that population. The objects that ground physics, however, can be described only through more mathematics.<ref name=":122">{{cite book|last=Tegmark|first=Max|title=Our Mathematical Universe: My Quest for the Ultimate Nature of Reality|publisher=Vintage Books|year=2014|location=New York|pages=162–164}}</ref> In Russell's words, physics describes "certain equations giving abstract properties of their changes". When it comes to describing "what it is that changes, and what it changes from and to—as to this, physics is silent".<ref name=":10" /> In other words, physics describes matter's ''extrinsic'' properties, but not the ''intrinsic'' properties that ground them.<ref>{{Citation|last1=Marshall|first1=Dan|title=Intrinsic vs. Extrinsic Properties|date=2018|url=https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2018/entries/intrinsic-extrinsic/|encyclopedia=The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy|editor-last=Zalta|editor-first=Edward N.|edition=Spring 2018|publisher=Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University|access-date=2020-09-04|last2=Weatherson|first2=Brian}}.</ref>

(2) Russell argued that physics is mathematical because "it is only mathematical properties we can discover". This is true almost by definition: if ''only'' extrinsic properties are outwardly observable, then they will be the only ones discovered.<ref name=":10" /> This led [[Alfred North Whitehead]] to conclude that intrinsic properties are "intrinsically unknowable".<ref name="Seager" />

(3) Consciousness has many similarities to these intrinsic properties of physics. It, too, cannot be directly observed from an outside perspective. And it, too, seems to ground many observable extrinsic properties: presumably, music is enjoyable because of the experience of listening to it, and chronic pain is avoided because of the experience of pain, etc. Russell concluded that consciousness must be related to these extrinsic properties of matter. He called these intrinsic properties ''quiddities''. Just as extrinsic physical properties can create structures, so can their corresponding and identical quiddites. The conscious mind, Russell argued, is one such structure.<ref name=":10" />

Proponents of panpsychism who use this line of reasoning include Chalmers, [[Annaka Harris]],<ref name=":13" /> and [[Galen Strawson]]. Chalmers has argued that the extrinsic properties of physics must have corresponding intrinsic properties; otherwise the universe would be "a giant causal flux" with nothing for "causation to relate", which he deems a logical impossibility. He sees consciousness as a promising candidate for that role.<ref name=":3" /> [[Galen Strawson]] calls Russell's panpsychism "realistic physicalism". He argues that "the experiential considered specifically as such" is what it means for something to be physical. Just as [[Mass–energy equivalence|mass is energy]], Strawson believes that consciousness "just is" matter.<ref name="Strawson-self">{{cite encyclopedia|last1=Strawson|first1=Galen|author-link=Galen Strawson|editor1-last=Gallagher|editor1-first=Shaun|editor2-last=Shear|editor2-first=Jonathan|encyclopedia=Models of the Self|date=1999|publisher=Imprint Academic|location=Exeter|pages=1–24|title=The Self}}</ref>{{rp|7}}

[[Max Tegmark]], theoretical physicist and creator of the [[mathematical universe hypothesis]], disagrees with these conclusions. By his account, the universe is not just describable by math but ''is'' math; comparing physics to economics or population dynamics is a disanalogy. While population dynamics may be grounded in individual people, those people are grounded in "purely mathematical objects" such as energy and charge. The universe is, in a fundamental sense, made of nothing.<ref name=":122" />

===Quantum mechanics===
In a 2018 interview, Chalmers called [[quantum mechanics]] "a magnet for anyone who wants to find room for crazy properties of the mind", but not entirely without warrant.<ref name=":9">{{Cite web|title=Episode 25: David Chalmers on Consciousness, the Hard Problem, and Living in a Simulation, 49:10 – Sean Carroll|url=https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2018/12/03/episode-25-david-chalmers-on-consciousness-the-hard-problem-and-living-in-a-simulation/|access-date=2020-09-02|website=www.preposterousuniverse.com}}</ref> The relationship between observation (and, by extension, consciousness) and the ''[[Wave function collapse|wave-function collapse]]'' is known as the [[measurement problem]]. It seems that [[atom]]s, [[photon]]s, etc. are in [[quantum superposition]] (which is to say, in many seemingly contradictory states or locations simultaneously) until measured in some way. This process is known as ''a wave-function collapse.'' According to the [[Copenhagen interpretation|Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics]], one of the oldest interpretations and the most widely taught,<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Siddiqui|first1=Shabnam|last2=Singh|first2=Chandralekha|date=2017-05-01|title=How diverse are physics instructors' attitudes and approaches to teaching undergraduate level quantum mechanics?|journal=European Journal of Physics|volume=38|issue=3|pages=035703|doi=10.1088/1361-6404/aa6131|bibcode=2017EJPh...38c5703S|issn=0143-0807|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Wimmel|first=Hermann|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-4sJ_fgyZJEC&pg=PA2|title=Quantum Physics & Observed Reality: A Critical Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics|date=1992|publisher=World Scientific|isbn=978-981-02-1010-6|language=en}}</ref> it is the act of observation that collapses the wave-function''.'' [[Erwin Schrödinger]] famously articulated the Copenhagen interpretation's unusual implications in the thought experiment now known as [[Schrödinger cat|Schrödinger's cat]]. He imagines a box that contains a cat, a flask of poison, radioactive material, and a [[Geiger counter]]. The apparatus is configured so that when the Geiger counter detects radioactive decay, the flask will shatter, poisoning the cat. Unless and until the Geiger counter detects the radioactive decay of a single atom, the cat survives. The radioactive decay the Geiger counter detects is a quantum event; each decay corresponds to a quantum state transition of a single atom of the radioactive material. According to Schrödinger's wave equation, until they are observed, quantum particles, including the atoms of the radioactive material, are in quantum state superposition; each unmeasured atom in the radioactive material is in a quantum superposition of ''decayed'' and ''not decayed''. This means that while the box remains sealed and its contents unobserved, the Geiger counter is also in a superposition of states of ''decay detected'' and ''no decay detected''; the vial is in a superposition of both ''shattered'' and ''not shattered'' and the cat in a superposition of ''dead'' and ''alive''. But when the box is unsealed, the observer finds a cat that is either dead or alive; there is no superposition of states. Since the cat is no longer in a superposition of states, then neither is the radioactive atom (nor the vial or the Geiger counter). Hence Schrödinger's wave function no longer holds and the wave function that described the atom—and its superposition of states—is said to have "collapsed": the atom now has only a single state, corresponding to the cat's observed state. But until an observer opens the box and thereby causes the wave function to collapse, the cat is both dead and alive. This has raised questions about, in John S. Bell's words, "where the observer begins and ends".<ref>{{Cite web|title=Measurement problem – Wikiquote|url=https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Measurement_problem|access-date=2020-09-03|website=en.wikiquote.org}}</ref>

The measurement problem has largely been characterised as the clash of classical physics and quantum mechanics. Bohm argued that it is rather a clash of classical physics, quantum mechanics, and [[Phenomenology (philosophy)|phenomenology]]; all three levels of description seem to be difficult to reconcile, or even contradictory.<ref name="p-p-bohm" /> Though not referring specifically to quantum mechanics, Chalmers has written that if a [[theory of everything]] is ever discovered, it will be a set of "psychophysical laws", rather than simply a set of physical laws.<ref name=":3" /> With Chalmers as their inspiration, Bohm and Pylkkänen set out to do just that in their panprotopsychism. Chalmers, who is critical of the Copenhagen interpretation and most quantum theories of consciousness, has coined this "the Law of the Minimisation of Mystery".<ref name=":11" />  [[File:Schrodingers cat.svg|thumb|According to the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics, Schrödinger's cat is both dead and alive until observed or measured in some way.|alt=Schrödinger's cat simultaneously dead and alive in a quantum superposition|206x206px|left]]The [[many-worlds interpretation]] of quantum mechanics does not take observation as central to the wave-function collapse, because it denies that the collapse happens. On the many-worlds interpretation, just as the cat is both dead and alive, the observer both sees a dead cat and sees a living cat. Even though observation does not play a central role in this case, questions about observation are still relevant to the discussion. In [[Roger Penrose]]'s words:<blockquote>I do not see why a conscious being need be aware of only "one" of the alternatives in a linear superposition. What is it about consciousnesses that says that consciousness must not be "aware" of that tantalising linear combination of both a dead and a live cat? It seems to me that a theory of consciousness would be needed for one to square the many world view with what one actually observes.</blockquote>Chalmers believes that the tentative variant of panpsychism outlined in ''[[The Conscious Mind]]'' (1996) does just that. Leaning toward the many-worlds interpretation due to its mathematical [[wikt:parsimony|parsimony]], he believes his variety of panpsychist [[property dualism]] may be the theory Penrose is seeking. Chalmers believes that information will play an integral role in any theory of consciousness because the mind and brain have corresponding informational structures. He considers the [[The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics in the Natural Sciences|computational nature of physics]] further evidence of information's central role, and suggests that information that is ''physically realised'' is simultaneously ''[[Phenomenology (philosophy)|phenomenally]] realised''; both regularities in nature and conscious experience are expressions of information's underlying character. The theory implies panpsychism, and also solves the problem Penrose poses. On Chalmers's formulation, information in any given position is phenomenally realised, whereas the informational state of the superposition as a whole is not.<ref name="Chalmers-1996" /> Panpsychist interpretations of quantum mechanics have been put forward by such philosophers as Whitehead,<ref name="Seager" /> Shan Gao,<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Gao|first=Shan|year=2008|title=A quantum theory of consciousness|url=https://philpapers.org/rec/GAOAQT|journal=Minds and Machines|volume=18|issue=1|pages=39–52|doi=10.1007/s11023-007-9084-0|s2cid=22587697|url-access=subscription}}</ref> [[Michael Lockwood (philosopher)|Michael Lockwood]],<ref name="Seager" /> and Hoffman, who is a cognitive scientist.<ref name=":8">Hoffman, D. (2019). The Case Against Reality: Why Evolution Hid the Truth from Our Eyes. pp. 94–115, 123–124. New York, NY: Norton & Co.</ref> Protopanpsychist interpretations have been put forward by Bohm and Pylkkänen.<ref name="p-p-bohm" />

Tegmark has formally calculated the "[[quantum decoherence|decoherence]] rates" of neurons, finding that the brain is a "classical rather than a quantum system" and that quantum mechanics does not relate "to consciousness in any fundamental way".<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Tegmark|first=Max|date=4 July 2000|title=Why the brain is probably not a quantum computer|url=https://www.hedweb.com/physicalism/quantum-computer.pdf|journal=Information Sciences|volume=128|issue=3–4|pages=155–179|doi=10.1016/S0020-0255(00)00051-7|via=}}</ref>

In 2007, [[Steven Pinker]] criticized explanations of consciousness invoking quantum physics, saying: "to my ear, this amounts to the feeling that quantum mechanics sure is weird, and consciousness sure is weird, so maybe quantum mechanics can explain consciousness"; a view echoed by physicist [[Stephen Hawking]].<ref>{{Cite magazine|last=Pinker|first=Steven|date=2007-01-29|title=The Brain: The Mystery of Consciousness|language=en-US|magazine=Time|url=http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1580394-6,00.html|access-date=2020-09-02|issn=0040-781X}}</ref><ref name=":12">{{Cite web|date=2017-04-27|title=Roger Penrose On Why Consciousness Does Not Compute|url=https://nautil.us/roger-penrose-on-why-consciousness-does-not-compute-6127/|access-date=2022-03-17|website=Nautilus {{!}} Science Connected|language=en-US}}</ref> In 2017, Penrose rejected these characterizations, stating that disagreements are about the nature of quantum mechanics.<ref name=":12" />

== Arguments against ==
=== Theoretical issues ===
{{See also|Falsifiability}}

One criticism of panpsychism is that it cannot be empirically tested.<ref name="chalmers-panpsych" /> A corollary of this criticism is that panpsychism has no [[predictive power]]. Tononi and Koch write: "Besides claiming that matter and mind are one thing, [panpsychism] has little constructive to say and offers no positive laws explaining how the mind is organized and works".<ref name="tononi+koch" />

[[John Searle]] has alleged that panpsychism's unfalsifiability goes deeper than run-of-the-mill untestability: it is unfalsifiable because "It does not get up to the level of being false. It is strictly speaking meaningless because no clear notion has been given to the claim".<ref name=":4">{{cite magazine|last1=Searle|first1=John|title=Can Information Theory Explain Consciousness?|author-link1=John Searle|url=https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2013/01/10/can-information-theory-explain-consciousness/|website=The New York Review of Books}}</ref> The need for coherence and clarification is accepted by David Skrbina, a proponent of panpsychism.<ref name="Skrbina-2005" />{{rp|15}}

Many proponents of panpsychism base their arguments not on empirical support but on panpsychism's theoretical virtues. Chalmers says that while no direct evidence exists for the theory, neither is there direct evidence against it, and that "there are indirect reasons, of a broadly theoretical character, for taking the view seriously".<ref name="chalmers-panpsych" /> Notwithstanding Tononi and Koch's criticism of panpsychism, they state that it integrates consciousness into the physical world in a way that is "elegantly unitary".<ref name="tononi+koch" />

A related criticism is what seems to many to be the theory's bizarre nature.<ref name="chalmers-panpsych" /> Goff dismisses this objection:<ref name="sep-panpsych" /> though he admits that panpsychism is counterintuitive, he argues that Einstein's and Darwin's theories are also counterintuitive. "At the end of the day," he writes, "you should judge a view not for its cultural associations but by its explanatory power".<ref name="SA-20200114" />

===Problem of mental causation===
{{Further|Problem of mental causation}}

Philosophers such as Chalmers have argued that theories of consciousness should be capable of providing insight into the brain and mind to avoid the problem of mental causation.<ref name="chalmers-panpsych" /><ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Chalmers|first=David|title=The Conscious Mind: In Search of a Fundamental Theory|date=1996|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=0-19-510553-2|location=New York|pages=158–60, 172–203|oclc=33101543}}</ref> If they fail to do that, the theory will succumb to [[epiphenomenalism]],<ref name=":0" /> a view commonly criticised as implausible or even self-contradictory.<ref name="Chalmers-1996" /><ref>Lycan, William G., ed. (1990-01-01). ''Mind and Cognition: A Reader''. Cambridge, Massachusetts, US: Basil Blackwell. {{ISBN|978-0631160762}}.</ref><ref>Churchland, Paul M. (1989-01-01). ''A Neurocomputational Perspective: The Nature of Mind and the Structure of Science''. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press. {{ISBN|978-0262031516}}.</ref> Proponents of panpsychism (especially those with [[Neutral monism|neutral monist]] tendencies) hope to bypass this problem by dismissing it as a [[false dichotomy]]; mind and matter are two sides of the same coin, and mental causation is merely the extrinsic description of intrinsic properties of mind.<ref name=":1">{{Citation|last=Stubenberg|first=Leopold|title=Neutral Monism|date=2018|url=https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2018/entries/neutral-monism/|encyclopedia=The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy|editor-last=Zalta|editor-first=Edward N.|edition=Fall 2018|publisher=Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University|access-date=2020-08-31}}.</ref> Robert Howell has argued that all causal functions are still accounted for dispositionally (i.e., in terms of the behaviors described by science), leaving phenomenality causally inert.<ref name="howell">{{cite journal|last1=Howell|first1=Robert|title=The Russellian Monist's Problems with Mental Causation|journal=The Philosophical Quarterly|date=2014|volume=65|issue=258|pages=22–39|doi=10.1093/pq/pqu058|url=https://rjhjr.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/The-Philosophical-Quarterly-2014-Howell-pq-pqu058.pdf|access-date=19 May 2019|issn=0031-8094}}</ref> He concludes, "This leaves us once again with epiphenomenal qualia, only in a very surprising place".<ref name="howell" /> Neutral monists reject such dichotomous views of mind-body interaction.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2">{{Citation|last=Irvine|first=Andrew David|title=Bertrand Russell|date=2020|url=https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2020/entries/russell/|encyclopedia=The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy|editor-last=Zalta|editor-first=Edward N.|edition=Summer 2020|publisher=Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University|access-date=2020-08-31}}.</ref>

=== Combination problem ===
The combination problem (which is related to the [[binding problem]]) can be traced to [[William James]],<ref name="Chalmers-combination" /> but was given its present name by [[William Seager (philosopher)|William Seager]] in 1995.<ref name="seager-1995">{{cite journal|last1=Seager|first1=William|author-link1=William Seager (philosopher)|title=Consciousness, information and panpsychism|journal=Journal of Consciousness Studies|date=1995|volume=2|issue=3|pages=272–288}}</ref><ref name="Chalmers-combination" /> The problem arises from the tension between the seemingly [[Irreducibility|irreducible]] nature of consciousness and its ubiquity. If consciousness is ubiquitous, then in panpsychism, every atom (or every [[bit]], depending on the version of panpsychism) has a minimal level of it. How then, as [[Keith Frankish]] puts it, do these "tiny consciousnesses combine" to create larger conscious experiences such as "the twinge of pain" he feels in his knee?<ref name="frankish-atlantic" /> This objection has garnered significant attention,<ref name="Chalmers-combination" /><ref name="frankish-atlantic">{{cite web|last1=Frankish|first1=Keith|title=Why Panpsychism Is Probably Wrong|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2016/09/panpsychism-is-wrong/500774/|website=The Atlantic|access-date=20 March 2019|date=20 September 2016}}</ref><ref name="sep-panpsych" /> and many have attempted to answer it.<ref name=":13">{{Cite web|last=Harris|first=Annaka|date=2020-02-27|title=Consciousness Isn't Self-Centered|url=https://nautil.us/consciousness-isnt-self_centered-8816|access-date=2022-07-07|website=Nautilus}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|last=Chalmers|first=David|title=The Combination Problem for Panpsychism|date=2016|url=https://philpapers.org/rec/CHATCP-6|work=Panpsychism|editor-last=Brüntrup|editor-first=Godehard|publisher=Oxford University Press|access-date=2020-08-31|editor2-last=Jaskolla|editor2-first=Ludwig}}.</ref> None of the proposed answers has gained widespread acceptance.<ref name="Chalmers-combination" />

Concepts related to this problem include the classical [[sorites paradox]] (aggregates and organic wholes), [[mereology]] (the philosophical study of parts and wholes), [[Gestalt psychology]], and [[Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz|Leibniz's]] concept of the ''[[vinculum substantiale]]''.{{citation needed|date=September 2023}}

== See also ==
'''Concepts'''
{{Refbegin|20em}}
* ''[[Monadology]]''
* [[Anima mundi|''Anima mundi'' (World soul)]]
* [[Egregore]]
* [[Gaia hypothesis]]
* [[Holographic Universe]]
* [[Mana (Mandaeism)]]
* [[Maya (illusion)]]
* [[Microcosm–macrocosm analogy]]
* [[Monistic idealism]]
* [[Mythopoeic thought]]
* [[Noosphere]]
* [[Pandeism]]
* [[Panentheism]]
* [[Pantheism]]
* [[Philosophy of mind]]
* [[Polypsychism]]
* [[Reflexive monism]]
* [[Transpersonal psychology]]
* {{Annotated link|Theistic Personalism}}
{{Refend}}

'''People'''
{{Refbegin}}
* [[Aleksei Aleksandrovich Kozlov]]
* [[Alfred North Whitehead]]
* [[David Chalmers]]
* [[Friedrich Paulsen]]
* [[Galen Strawson]]
* [[Gerard Heymans]]
* [[Gordon Pask]]
* [[Iain McGilchrist]]
* [[Mary Whiton Calkins]]
* [[Paul Carus]]
* [[Philip Goff (philosopher)|Philip Goff]]
* [[Pierre Teilhard de Chardin]]
{{Refend}}

== Notes ==
{{Reflist}}

== Further reading ==
{{CE1913 poster|Panpsychism}}

{{Library resources box}}

* {{cite book|editor-first=D.S.|editor-last=Clarke|title=Panpsychism: Past and Recent Selected Readings|year=2004|publisher=State University of New York Press|isbn=0-7914-6132-7}}
* {{cite book|first=David|last=Skrbina|title=Panpsychism in the West|year=2005|publisher=The MIT Press|isbn=978-0-262-69351-6}}
* {{cite book|editor-first=David|editor-last=Skrbina|title=Mind That Abides: Panpsychism in the New Millennium|year=2009|publisher=John Benjamins|isbn=978-9027252111}}
* {{cite book|editor-first=Michael|editor-last=Blamauer|title=The Mental as Fundamental: New Perspectives on Panpsychism|year=2011|publisher=Gazelle Books|isbn=978-3-86838-114-6}}
* {{cite book|first=Peter|last=Ells|title=Panpsychism: The Philosophy of the Sensuous Cosmos|year=2011|publisher=O Books|isbn = 978-1-84694-505-2}}
* {{cite book|editor1-first=Torin|editor1-last=Alter|editor2-first=Yugin|editor2-last=Nagasawa|title=Consciousness in the Physical World: Perspectives on Russellian Monism|year=2015|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford|isbn=978-0-19-992735-7}}
* {{cite book|editor1-first=Godehard|editor1-last=Brüntrup|editor2-first=Ludwig|editor2-last=Jaskolla|title=Panpsychism: Contemporary Perspectives|year=2016|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=New York|isbn=978-0199359943}}
* {{cite book|first=Philip| last=Goff|author-link=Philip Goff (Philosopher)|
 title=Consciousness and Fundamental Reality|year=2017|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn = 978-0190677015}}
* {{cite book|first=Philip|last=Goff|author-link=Philip Goff (Philosopher)|title=[[Galileo's Error|Galileo's Error: Foundations for a New Science of Consciousness]]|year=2019|publisher=Pantheon|isbn = 978-1524747961}}
* {{cite book|first=Annaka|last=Harris|author-link=Annaka Harris|title=Conscious: A Brief Guide to the Fundamental Mystery of the Mind|year=2019|publisher=Harper|isbn = 978-0062906717}}
* {{cite book|editor-first=William|editor-last=Seager|editor-link=William Seager (philosopher)|title=The Routledge Handbook of Panpsychism|year=2020|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1138817135}}

== External links ==
{{Wiktionary}}
{{Wikibooks}}
* [http://www.philosopher.eu/panpsychism/ List of online classic papers on panpsychism]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070319191131/http://consc.net/online1.html#panpsychism Online papers on panpsychism], by various authors, compiled by [[David Chalmers]]
* [https://iep.utm.edu/panpsych/ Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy – Panpsychism]
* [https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/panpsychism/ Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy – Panpsychism]

{{Philosophy of mind}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Nonduality]]
[[Category:Panpsychism| ]]
[[Category:Pantheism]]
[[Category:Theory of mind]]