Panpsychism in the WestIn Panpsychism in the West, the first comprehensive study of the subject, David Skrbina argues for the importance of panpsychism--the theory that mind exists, in some form, in all living and nonliving things--in consideration of the nature of consciousness and mind. Despite the recent advances in our knowledge of the brain and the increasing intricacy and sophistication of philosophical discussion, the nature of mind remains an enigma. Panpsychism, with its conception of mind as a general phenomenon of nature, uniquely links being and mind. More than a theory of mind, it is a meta-theory--a statement about theories of mind rather than a theory in itself. Panpsychism can parallel almost every current theory of mind; it simply holds that, no matter how one conceives of mind, such mind applies to all things. In addition, panpsychism is one of the most ancient and enduring concepts of philosophy, beginning with its pre-historical forms, animism and polytheism. Its adherents in the West have included important thinkers from the very beginning of Greek philosophy through the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries to the present. Skrbina argues that panpsychism is long overdue for detailed treatment, and with this book he proposes to add impetus to the discussion of panpsychism in serious philosophical inquiries. After a brief discussion of general issues surrounding philosophy of mind, he traces the panpsychist views of specific philosophers, from the ancient Greeks and early Renaissance naturalist philosophers through the likes of William James, Josiah Royce, and Charles Sanders Peirce--always with a strong emphasis on the original texts. In his concluding chapter, "A Panpsychist World View," Skrbina assesses panpsychist arguments and puts them in a larger context. By demonstrating that there is panpsychist thinking in many major philosophers, Skrbina offers a radical challenge to the modern worldview, based as it is on a mechanistic cosmos of dead, insensate matter. Panpsychism in the Westwill be the standard work on this topic for years to come. |
Contents
Panpsychism and the Ontology of Mind | 1 |
12 Basic Concepts in Ontology and Mind | 5 |
13 Background on Monism | 8 |
14 Dualism and Interaction | 12 |
15 Panpsychism Defined | 15 |
Ancient Origins | 23 |
22 Plato | 34 |
23 Aristotle | 45 |
The AngloAmerican Perspective | 141 |
62 William James | 145 |
63 Royce Peirce and Other Sympathetic Thinkers | 149 |
Panpsychism in the Twentieth Century Part I 19001950 | 157 |
72 Schiller | 162 |
73 Alexander Lossky Troland and Dewey | 165 |
74 The Process PhilosophersWhitehead and Russell | 174 |
75 Phenomenology | 180 |
24 Epicurus and the Atomic Swerve | 51 |
25 Stoicism and the Pneuma | 53 |
26 Remnants of Panpsychism in the Early Christian Era | 58 |
Developments in the Renaissance Sixteenth and SeventeenthCentury Europe | 65 |
Cardano Telesio Patrizi and Bruno | 67 |
33 Gilbert and the Soul of the Magnet | 76 |
34 Campanella and the Seventeenth Century | 77 |
35 The Early Scientific Philosophers | 81 |
36 Spinoza | 87 |
37 Locke and Newton | 91 |
38 Leibniz | 95 |
Continental Panpsychism of the Eighteenth Century | 101 |
42 Kant and Priestley | 108 |
43 German Romanticism and the Naturphilosophie | 112 |
Panpsychism Mechanism and Science in Nineteenth Century Germany | 117 |
52 Fechner | 122 |
53 Other ScientistPhilosophers of the Age | 126 |
54 A Survey of the Field | 133 |
55 Nietzsche and the Will to Power | 137 |
76 Teilhard de Chardin | 182 |
Scientific Perspectives | 185 |
82 Panpsychism in Early and MidTwentiethCentury Science | 188 |
83 Bateson | 196 |
84 Recent Scientific Interpretations | 198 |
85 Bohm and the Implicate Order | 202 |
Panpsychism in the Twentieth Century Part II 1950Present | 207 |
91 Hartshorne | 208 |
92 Developments in the 1960s and the 1970s | 217 |
Panpsychism and Environmental Philosophy | 223 |
94 Recent Thoughts Pro and Con | 235 |
Toward a Panpsychist Worldview | 249 |
102 Opposing Views | 255 |
103 Into the Third Millennium | 265 |
Notes | 271 |
291 | |
307 | |
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Common terms and phrases
aggregates analogy Anaxagoras animals appears argued argument for panpsychism Aristotle aspect atoms attribute Bateson body Bohm brain Bruno Campanella causal century chism cited claim clearly complex concept consciousness cosmos Democritus discussion dualism Earth elements emergence Empedocles ensouled entity Epicurus existence experience fact Fechner feeling force form of panpsychism fundamental Griffin Hartshorne human hylozoism hylozoist ibid idea idealism identical implies inanimate individual inorganic intelligence interaction James LaMettrie Leibniz living logical material materialist mechanistic mental metaphysical mind and matter mind-like mind-stuff molecules monad Monadology monism motion nature neutral monism objects ontological organic panentheism panpsy panpsychist panpsychist views Parmenides particles Paulsen Peirce phase space philosophers physical plants Plato pneuma possess principle problem process philosophy psyche psychic qualities quantum reality reason rocks Schopenhauer seems sense sensitivity sentient soul Spinoza spirit Stoic Stoicism structure substance Telesio theory of mind things thinking thought tion unified unity Whitehead world-soul worldview