^CategoryPanpsychism

Venus flytrap is one of the carnivore plants

^{Type
post

Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
December 14, 2022

Categorized
Panpsychism, Philosophy of Mind, Plant Mind

Tagged
Anesthesia awareness, Annaka Harris, Conscious: A Brief Guide to the Fundamental Mystery of the Mind (Harper 2019), Consciousness (evolutionary approach), Daniel Chamovitz, Diving Bell and the Butterfly (Knopf 1997), Jean-Dominique Bauby (1952–1997), Locked-in syndrome, Natural selection, Philosopher's zombie, Plant communications, Plant consciousness, Plant senses, Suzanne Simard, What a Plant Knows (Farrar Strauss & Giroux 2017)}

A Science Writer Makes the Case for Plants as Conscious Beings

_{Annaka Harris, neuroscience and physics writer, starts by casting doubt on human consciousness} _{Denyse O'Leary

December 14, 2022

10

Panpsychism, Philosophy of Mind, Plant Mind}

Annaka Harris, a science writer focusing on neuroscience and physics and the author of Conscious: A Brief Guide to the Fundamental Mystery of the Mind (2019), challenges us to reflect on two points: 1) In a system that we know has conscious experiences — the human brain — what evidence of consciousness can we detect from the outside? 2) Is consciousness essential to our behavior? The editor notes, introducing an excerpt from the book, “But how sure can we be that plants aren’t conscious? And what if what we take to be behavior indicating consciousness can be replicated with no conscious agent involved? Annaka Harris invites us to consider the real possibility that our intuitions about consciousness might be mere Read More ›

human head powerful inspiration tree abstract thinking inside your mind watercolor painting illustration hand drawn

^{Type
post

Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
December 2, 2022

Categorized
Panpsychism, Philosophy of Mind, Physics

Tagged
David Chalmers, Kelvin MacQueen, Sabine Hossenfelder on panpsychism}

Sabine Hossenfelder, Taking on Consciousness, Tackles Panpsychism

_{She wants to apologize to all carrots who are watching her video — but carrots are not watching and that’s the point} _{Denyse O'Leary

December 2, 2022

4

Panpsychism, Philosophy of Mind, Physics}

Recently, I’ve been looking ( here and here) at theoretical physicist Sabine Hossenfelder’s argument that quantum mechanics does not show that consciousness is essential for understanding the universe. The topic has become very interesting because of the growth of panpsychism in science — which Hossenfelder references in the video. Panpsychism is the belief that all of nature participates in some way in consciousness but that it is most highly developed in humans. Many prefer it to materialism because the panpsychist does not need to show that human consciousness is some kind of illusion that we evolved to believe in (?). It is part of the normal functioning of the universe even if we don’t understand how it works. To see Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
September 25, 2022

Categorized
Panpsychism, Science

Tagged
Antonio Damasio, Avery Hurt, Christof Koch, Consciousness (evolution of consciousness), Cosmopsychism (and fine-tuning), David Chalmers on panpsychism, Egnor's Principle, Fine-tuning and panpsychism, Galen Strawson, Giulio Tononi, James Shapiro, Olivia Goldhill, Panpsychism in science, Philip Goff, Robert Wright, Sabine Hossenfelder on panpsychism}

Can Panpsychism Save Naturalism From Itself?

_{Panpsychism can be seen as an effort to save naturalism by acknowledging the reality of the mind while insisting that the mind is wholly natural} _{Denyse O'Leary

September 25, 2022

6

Panpsychism, Science}

This article is an excerpt of one that originally appeared in Salvo 61 (Summer 2022), under the title “Everything is Conscious? Panpsychism goes mainstream.” Panpsychism — the view that all of the universe participates in consciousness, which is most fully developed in humans — has been gaining popularity in science in recent years. Does that sound unbelievable? Is not science committed wholly to materialism and nothing but materialism? Will consciousness not soon be “explained” by an accidental glitch in brain wiring that natural selection retained? Science doesn’t seem nearly as committed to that view just now. A 2018 article at Quartz by Olivia Goldhill was titled “The idea that everything from spoons to stones is conscious is gaining academic credibility.” Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
September 5, 2022

Categorized
Panpsychism, Religion, Spirituality

Tagged
Apophatic theology, Is Consciousness Everywhere? (book 2022), Panpsychism and belief, Persecution and belief, Philip Goff, Religion without belief}

Can Religion Without Belief “Make Perfect Sense”?

_{Philosopher Philip Goff, a prominent voice in panpsychism, also defends the idea of finding meaning in a religion we don’t really believe} _{Denyse O'Leary

September 5, 2022

5

Panpsychism, Religion, Spirituality}

Durham University philosopher Philip Goff, co-editor of Is Consciousness Everywhere? Essays on Panpsychism (November 1, 2022), has an interesting take on religion. While it’s common to assume that religious people are “believers,” he thinks that people can meaningfully be part of a religion without actually believing in it: But there is more to a religion than a cold set of doctrines. Religions involve spiritual practices, traditions that bind a community together across space and time, and rituals that mark the seasons and the big moments of life: birth, coming of age, marriage, death. This is not to deny that there are specific metaphysical views associated with each religion, nor that there is a place for assessing how plausible those views Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
August 29, 2022

Categorized
Human exceptionalism, Panpsychism

Tagged
Paco Calvo, Panpsychism and plant consciousness, Plants (consciousness issue), Plants and anesthesia}

Yes, Plants May Be Conscious Too, Says Researcher

_{Paco Calvo has authored many papers in respected journals; his view is another instance of panpsychism overtaking materialism in science} _{Denyse O'Leary

August 29, 2022

4

Human exceptionalism, Panpsychism}

At one time, claims for animal consciousness and/or intelligence focused on, say, chimpanzees and dolphins, where the animals were enough like humans that what is meant by intelligence or consciousness was clear. Maybe not clear enough for a philosopher but clear enough for practical purposes. The octopus’s intelligence came as a bit of a surprise because it is an invertebrate. But these comparisons with mammals and birds showed that we were still talking about the same thing. We are now told in science publications that bees feel and think and that spiders dream. As science edges slowly toward panpsychism (all life forms participate in consciousness), we even learn — in science journals — that viruses are intelligent and cells are Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
August 11, 2022

Categorized
Human exceptionalism, Natural Intelligence, Panpsychism, Philosophy of Mind

Tagged
Alun Anderson, Animal Algorithms (book), Anthropomorphism (and bees), Bee consciousness, Bees, Bumblebees, Catherine WIlson, Egnor's Dilemma, Eric Cassell, Lars Chittka, Mind of a Bee (book), Panpsychism's growing acceptance}

What Does It Mean To Say Bees “Feel and Think”?

_{The New Scientist reviewer is unsure that we are ready for such a radical message. Unsure? At one time, it would have been branded “NOT science!”} _{Denyse O'Leary

August 11, 2022

5

Human exceptionalism, Natural Intelligence, Panpsychism, Philosophy of Mind}

Behavioral ecologist Lars Chittka’s book, The Mind of a Bee (Princeton University Press, 2022), is a fascinating detailed description of bee behavior that will cure us of believing that the insect world is devoid of intelligence or sensation. Indeed, in a 2018 essay with Catherine Wilson, Chittka offers many research findings in a shorter format. It’s only in Chapter 11, toward the book’s end, that he makes a controversial claim: From the very start, early in evolution, nervous systems were inseparable from movable bodies with sensors, and developed in order to integrate perception and action. The challenges of survival and self-replication (reproduction) that a moving organism faces are most efficiently met when brain and body are intimately connected, enabling the Read More ›

heaven cloud sky sunny bright for future wealth fortune day concept

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
August 1, 2022

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Panpsychism, Philosophy of Mind

Tagged
Animism applied to AI, Animism vs panpyschism, Artificial intelligence and animism, Consciousness of inanimate nature, David Chalmers, Panpsychism vs animism, Rupert Sheldrake, Rupert Sheldrake on conscious sun, Sun as conscious}

Panpsychism: If Computers Can Have Minds, Why Can’t the Sun?

_{Sheldrake’s argument that the Sun is conscious cannot be dismissed out of hand by those who insist that computers can become conscious} _{News

August 1, 2022

5

Artificial Intelligence, Panpsychism, Philosophy of Mind}

Recently, biologist Rupert Sheldrake asked at the Journal of Consciousness Studies, “Is the Sun conscious?” It’s the sort of question that people might have asked before the dawn of modern science (and the usual answer was yes). Sheldrake is pretty controversial but he is likely right to note a “recent panpsychist turn in philosophy.” Prominent philosopher David Chalmers, who coined the term the “Hard Problem of consciousness,” has also said “We’re not going to reduce consciousness to something physical … it’s a primitive component of the universe.” But Sheldrake might have added that there is a panpsychist turn in science as well. After all, a mainstream neuroscientist recently argued in a science publication last year that even viruses are intelligent Read More ›