Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-xbtfd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-05T15:31:06.903Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

13 - Panpsychism

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 August 2013

Get access

Summary

By panpsychism I mean the view that the basic physical constituents of the universe have mental properties, whether or not they are parts of living organisms. It appears to follow from a few simple premises, each of which is more plausible than its denial, though not perhaps more plausible than the denial of panpsychism.

Material composition

Any living organism, including a human being, is a complex material system. It consists of a huge number of particles combined in a special way. Each of us is composed of matter that had a largely inanimate history before finding its way onto our plates or those of our parents. It was once probably part of the sun, but matter from another galaxy would do as well. If it were brought to earth, and grass were grown in it, and milk from a cow that ate the grass were drunk by a pregnant woman, then her child's brain would be partly composed of that matter. Anything whatever, if broken down far enough and rearranged, could be incorporated into a living organism. No constituents besides matter are needed.

Nonreductionism

Ordinary mental states like thought, feeling, emotion, sensation, or desire are not physical properties of the organism – behavioral, physiological, or otherwise – and they are not implied by physical properties alone.

Type
Chapter
Information
Mortal Questions , pp. 181 - 195
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2012

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

  • Panpsychism
  • Thomas Nagel
  • Book: Mortal Questions
  • Online publication: 05 August 2013
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781107341050.015
Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

  • Panpsychism
  • Thomas Nagel
  • Book: Mortal Questions
  • Online publication: 05 August 2013
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781107341050.015
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Panpsychism
  • Thomas Nagel
  • Book: Mortal Questions
  • Online publication: 05 August 2013
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781107341050.015
Available formats
×