204 - Philip Goff: Panpsychism and the Mystery of Consciousness

Patreon: https://bit.ly/3v8OhY7 Philip Goff is a professor of philosophy at Durham University in the United Kingdom, where he researches consciousness and the philosophy of mind. He is the best known proponent of a view about consciousness known as panpsychism, which takes mentality to be fundamental in the world rather than something that either emerges out of complex structures or exists parallel to physical objects (as an immaterial property of things like souls). In this episode, Robinson and Philip discuss the major camps in the debate over consciousness, including physicalism, dualism, and panpsychism, touching on both their strengths and weaknesses. They then turn to a few questions raised in Philip’s most recent book, Why? The Purpose of the Universe (Oxford, 2023), in which he seeks to find a middle ground between atheism and deism. Why? The Purpose of the Universe: https://a.co/d/2cqj5Us Philip’s Website: https://philipgoffphilosophy.com OUTLINE 00:00 Introduction 04:41 Philip’s Interest in Consciousness 8:11 What Is Consciousness? 14:36 Is Consciousness a Spectrum?  19:42 On Dualism About Consciousness 31:37 On Physicalism and the Mind 46:56 What Is Panpsychism? 53:27 The Best Arguments for Panpsychism 57:11 Panpsychism and the Combination Problem 1:02:20 On Panpsychism and Parapsychology 1:07:06 On Panpsychism and Free Will 1:13:04 On the Fine-Tuning Problem Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between.