Panpsychism, in philosophy, is either the view that all parts of matter involve mind, or the more holistic view that the whole universe is an organism that possesses a mind. It is thus a stronger and more ambitious view than hylozoism, which holds only that all things are alive. This is not to say that panpsychism believes that all matter is alive or even conscious but rather that the constituent parts of matter are composed of some form of mind and are sentient. Philosopher in Meditation (detail), by Rembrandt Philosophy is a field of study that includes diverse subfields such as aesthetics, epistemology, ethics, logic, and metaphysics, in which people ask questions such as whether God exists, whether knowledge is possible, and what makes actions right or wrong. ... Holism (from holos, a Greek word meaning all, entire, total) is the idea that all the properties of a given system (biological, chemical, social, mental, linguistic, etc. ... Hylozoism is the philosophical doctrine that all or some material things possess life. ... Sentience is the capacity for basic consciousness -- the ability to feel or perceive, not necessarily including the faculty of self-awareness. ...

Panpsychism claims that everything is sentient and that there are either many separate minds, or one single mind that unites everything that is. The concept of the unconscious, made popular by the psychoanalysts, made possible a variant of panpsychism that denies consciousness from some entities while still asserting the ubiquity of mind. The unconscious mind (or subconscious) is the aspect (or puported aspect) of the mind of which we are not directly conscious or aware. ... This article is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... Consciousness is a quality of the mind generally regarded to comprise qualities such as subjectivity, self-awareness, sentience, sapience, and the ability to perceive the relationship between oneself and ones environment. ...

Relation to metaphysical positions

Panpsychism usually implies idealism - the metaphysical view that mind is the fundamental constituent of reality (a view that reduces matter to mind - a type of monism). Idealism is an approach to philosophical enquiry which asserts that all that exists is in and of the mind. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Mind refers to the collective aspects of human intellect and consciousness that originate in the brain and which are manifest in some combination of thought, perception, emotion, will, memory, and imagination. ... Reductionism in philosophy describes a number of related, contentious theories that hold, very roughly, that the nature of complex things can always be reduced to (be explained by) simpler or more fundamental things. ... Matter is commonly defined as the substance of which physical objects are composed. ... Mind refers to the collective aspects of human intellect and consciousness that originate in the brain and which are manifest in some combination of thought, perception, emotion, will, memory, and imagination. ... Monism is the metaphysical and theological view that all is of one essential essence, principle, substance or energy. ...

Eliminative Materialism, the view that there is no such thing as mind, but only matter- is incompatible with panpsychism. Materialism generally, the view that ultimately there is only matter, is compatible with panpsychism just in case the property of mindedness is attributed to matter. Hylopathism argues for just this attribution. But few writers would advocate a hylopathic materialism. Eliminativists argue that our modern belief in the existence of mental phenomena is analogous to our ancient belief in obsolete theories such as the geocentric model of the universe. ... In philosophy, materialism is that form of physicalism which holds that the only thing that can truly be said to exist is matter; that fundamentally, all things are composed of material and all phenomena are the result of material interactions. ... Hylopathism, in philosophy, can mean either the belief that some or all matter is sentient or the belief that properties of matter in general give rise to the subjective experience. ...

However, there are also varieties of monism that don't presuppose (like materialism and idealism do) that mind and matter are fundamentally separable. An example is neutral monism first introduced by Spinoza and later propounded by William James. Panpsychism can be combined with this view. Monism is the metaphysical and theological view that all is of one essential essence, principle, substance or energy. ... Neutral monism, in philosophy, is the metaphysical view that nature consists of one kind (hence monism) of primal stuff, which in itself is neither mental nor physical, but is capable of mental and physical aspects or attributes. ... Steven de Spinoza (November 24, 1632 – February 21, 1677), named Stefan Spinoza by his synagogue elders and known as Bento de Espinosa or Bento dEspiñoza in his native Amsterdam, was a Dutch philosopher. ... William James William James (January 11, 1842 – August 26, 1910) was a pioneering American psychologist and philosopher. ...

In the history of philosophy

The view of the world as a macrocosm in relation to man (which is a microcosm, respectively) was a staple theme in Greek philosophy. In that view it was natural to think about the world in anthropomorphic terms. The view passed into the medieval period via Neoplatonism, and became shared by Leibniz, Schelling, Schopenhauer and many others. Macrocosm and microcosm is an ancient Greek schema of seeing the same patterns reproduced in all levels of reality. ... For the definition of the word microcosm, see here. ... An example of an anthropomorphic animal (by Carrie J. Berman). ... Neoplatonism (also Neo-Platonism) is a school of philosophy that took shape in the 3rd century A.D. Based on the teachings of Plato and the Platonists, it contained enough unique interpretations of Plato that some view Neoplatonism as substantively different from what Plato wrote and believed. ... Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (also von Leibni(t)z)[1] (July 1 (June 21 Old Style) 1646, Leipzig – November 14, 1716, Hanover) was a German polymath of Sorbian origin, deemed a universal [1] genius in his day and since. ... This article is about the the German philosopher Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph von Schelling. ... Arthur Schopenhauer (February 22, 1788 – September 21, 1860) was a German philosopher. ...

Josiah Royce (1855-1916), the leading American absolute idealist, held to the panpsychist view, though he didn't necessarily attribute mental properties to the smallest constituents of mentalistic "systems". Josiah Royce (November 20, 1855, Grass Valley, California. ...

The panpsychist doctrine has recently been making some kind of a comeback in the American philosophy of mind — for example, David Chalmers and Leo Stubenberg have each recently defended it. In the philosophy of mind, panpsychism is one possible solution to the so-called hard problem of consciousness. The doctrine has also been applied in the field of environmental philosophy through the work of Australian philosopher, Freya Mathews. A Phrenological mapping of the brain. ... David Chalmers David Chalmers (1966 -) is a leading philosopher in the area of philosophy of mind. ... Various formulations: Why does awareness of sensory information exist at all? Why do qualia exist? Why is there a subjective component to experience? Why arent we philosophical zombies? Categories: Stub | Philosophy of mind ... Freya Mathews is an Australian philosopher and author. ...

In the psychoanalytic tradition

Carl Jung, who is maybe best known for his idea of collective unconscious, wrote that "psyche and matter are contained in one and the same world, and moreover are in continuous contact with one another", and that it was probable that "psyche and matter are two different aspects of one and the same thing". (orig. source unknown, cited in Danah Zohar & Ian Marshall, SQ: Connecting with our Spiritual Intelligence, Bloomsbury, 2000, p. 81). This could be interpreted as panpsychism, apparently of the neutral monism variety. Carl Jungs autobiographical work Memories , Dreams and Reflections, Fontana edition Carl Gustav Jung (July 26, 1875 – June 6, 1961) (IPA:) was a Swiss psychiatrist and founder of analytical psychology. ... Collective unconscious is a term of analytical psychology originally coined by Carl Jung. ... Neutral monism, in philosophy, is the metaphysical view that nature consists of one kind (hence monism) of primal stuff, which in itself is neither mental nor physical, but is capable of mental and physical aspects or attributes. ...

Other manifestations

Panpsychism and emergentism can be seen as alternative ways to bridge the more extreme positions of crude reductionism and crude holism. Panpsychism differs from emergentism in that according to panpsychism, even the smallest physical particles have mental characteristics. Emergentism claims that though the particles be mindless, some systems formed by them, and by nothing but them, do possess mental attributes. Human brain is a case in point. In philosophy, emergentism is the belief in emergence, particularly as it involves consciousness and the philosophy of mind, and as it contrasts with reductionism. ... Reductionism in philosophy describes a number of related, contentious theories that hold, very roughly, that the nature of complex things can always be reduced to (be explained by) simpler or more fundamental things. ... Holism (from holos, a Greek word meaning all, entire, total) is the idea that all the properties of a given system (biological, chemical, social, mental, linguistic, etc. ... For the Macintosh operating system, which was called System up to version 7. ...

Gaia theory, which views the biosphere as a self-regulating system, that maintains homeostasis in relation to many vital chemical and physical variables, is sometimes interpreted as panpsychism, because some think that any goal-directed behavior qualifies as mental. However, the goal-directed behavior of the biosphere, as explained by the Gaia theory, is an emergent function of organised, living matter, not a quality of any matter. Thus Gaia theory is more properly associated with emergentism than panpsychism. A Gaia theory is a class of scientific models of the biosphere in which life fosters and maintains suitable conditions for itself by affecting Earths environment. ... The biosphere is the part of a planets outer shell — including air, land, surface rocks and water — within which life occurs, and which biotic processes in turn alter or transform. ... Social Cognitive Perspective: Zimmerman et al specified three important characteristics: self-observation (monitoring ones activities); self-judgement (self-evaluation of ones performance) and self-reactions (reactions to performance outcomes) Cognitive Processing Perspective Winne & Marx posited that motivational thoughts and beliefs are governed by the basic principles of cognitive... Look up system in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Homeostasis is the property of an open system, especially living organisms, to regulate its internal environment to maintain a stable, constant condition, by means of multiple dynamic equilibrium adjustments, controlled by interrelated regulation mechanisms. ... A Gaia theory is a class of scientific models of the biosphere in which life fosters and maintains suitable conditions for itself by affecting Earths environment. ... A Gaia theory is a class of scientific models of the biosphere in which life fosters and maintains suitable conditions for itself by affecting Earths environment. ... In philosophy, emergentism is the belief in emergence, particularly as it involves consciousness and the philosophy of mind, and as it contrasts with reductionism. ...

The label "naive" (vs. "philosophical") panpsychism is sometimes used to mean, not a doctrine defended by any philosopher, but the attitude of primal people and children to think of even inanimate objects as sentient and/or intentional. This is the same as animism. An agents intention in performing an action is their specific purpose in doing so, the end or goal they aim at, or intend to accomplish. ... In religion, the term Animism is used in a number of ways. ...

Panpsychism, as a view that the universe has "universal consciousness", is shared by some forms of religious thought: theosophy, pantheism, panentheism, and cosmotheism. Seal of the Theosophical Society Theosophy is a cult which holds that all religions are attempts by man to ascertain the Divine, and as such each religion has a portion of the truth. ... Pantheism (Greek: pan = all and Theos = God) literally means God is All and All is God. It is the view that everything is of an all-encompassing immanent God; or that the universe, or nature, and God are equivalent. ... Panentheism (Greek words: pan=all, en=in and Theos=God; all-in-God) is the view that God is immanent within all Creation or that God is the animating force behind the universe. ... Cosmotheism is a term invented in the late-19th or early-20th century, originally as a near-synonym of pantheism, and used by: Mordekhay Nesiyahu (Zionist user of the term) William Luther Pierce (White separatist) This is a disambiguation page: a list of articles associated with the same title. ...

Panexperientialism or panprotopsychism are related concepts. Alfred North Whitehead incorporated a scientific worldview into the development of his philosophical system similar to Einstein’s Theory of Relativity. His ideas were a significant development of the idea of panpsychism, also known as panexperientialism due to Whitehead’s emphasis on experience. Process philosophy suggests that fundamental elements of the universe are occasions of experience, which can be collected into groups creating something as complex as a human being. This experience is not consciousness, there is no mind-body duality under this system as mind is seen as a very developed kind of experience. Whitehead is not an idealist and while his philosophy resembles the concept of monads first proposed by Leibniz, Whitehead’s occasions of experience are interrelated with every other occasion of experience that has ever occurred. He embraced pantheism with God encompassing all occasions of experience, transcending them. Whitehead believed that the occasions of experience are the smallest element in the universe even smaller than the subatomic particles.

See also

• Animism
• Hylozoism
• Pantheism
• Solipsism

In religion, the term Animism is used in a number of ways. ... Hylozoism is the philosophical doctrine that all or some material things possess life. ... Pantheism (Greek: pan = all and Theos = God) literally means God is All and All is God. It is the view that everything is of an all-encompassing immanent God; or that the universe, or nature, and God are equivalent. ... This article or section contains information that has not been verified and thus might not be reliable. ...

External links

• Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy - Panpsychism
• The Catholic Encyclopedia - Panpsychism
• consciousentities.com - Philosophical Deadends - Panpsychism
• Bibliography on Panpsychism compiled by David Chalmers
• panpsychism.net