Mind that Abides: Panpsychism in the New Millennium

Front Cover
David Skrbina
John Benjamins Publishing, 2009 - Philosophy - 401 pages
Panpsychism is the view that all things, living and nonliving, possess some mind like quality. It stands in sharp contrast to the traditional notion of mind as the property of humans and (perhaps) a few select 'higher animals'. Though surprising at first glance, panpsychism has a long and noble history in both Western and Eastern thought. Overlooked by analytical, materialist philosophy for most of the 20th century, it is now experiencing a renaissance of sorts in several areas of inquiry. A number of recent books including Skrbina's Panpsychism in the West (2005) and Strawson et al's Consciousness and its Place in Nature (2006) have established panpsychism as respectable and viable. Mind That Abides builds on these works. It takes panpsychism to be a plausible theory of mind and then moves forward to work out the philosophical, psychological and ethical implications. With 17 contributors from a variety of fields, this book promises to mark a wholesale change in our philosophical outlook. (Series A)
 

Contents

Acknowledgements and dedication
Introduction
Panpsychism in history
Analysis and science
Realistic monism
Halting the descent into panpsychism
Mind under matter
The conscious connection
The dynamics of possession
Finite eventism
Metaphysics and mind
Zeroperson and the psyche
All things think
Something there?
Panpsychic presuppositions of Samkhya metaphysics
The awareness of rock

Can the panpsychist get around the combination problem?
Universal correlates of consciousness
Panpsychism the BigBangArgument and the dignity of life
Process philosophy
Back to Whitehead?
Does process externalism support panpsychism?
Why has the West failed to embrace panpsychism?
Minds objects and relations
References
Index
The series Advances in Consciousness Research
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