Panpsychism
Taking the idea that mind goes all the way down seriously enough to say precisely where it helps, where it just relocates the mystery, and where the discipline of inference draws the line.
3 essays
- Where Speculation Earns Its Keep: Constraint, Consciousness, and the Discipline of Not Knowing
Speculation thrives at the edges of knowledge, but not all speculation earns its keep. This essay argues that explanations matter only insofar as they constrain, drawing a principled line between disciplined inquiry and metaphysical comfort in debates about consciousness.
- The Lantern and the Flame: Why Fundamentality Is an Explanatory Dead-End
Panpsychism promises to solve the Hard Problem by declaring consciousness fundamental. But what does that actually explain? By treating experience as a phase transition of organized matter, structure regains its explanatory power, and mystery regains its discipline.
- Panpsychism, Consciousness, and the Discipline of Inference
Panpsychism promises to solve the hard problem of consciousness by placing experience everywhere. A closer look reveals a deeper issue: without shared mechanisms or constraints, attributing consciousness becomes an abdication of inference, not an explanation.
