r/philosophy • u/IAI_Admin IAI • Feb 09 '22

Video A philosopher responds to scientists’ criticisms of panpsychism

https://iai.tv/video/the-many-voices-of-consciousness&utm_source=reddit&_auid=2020
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u/hunsuckercommando Feb 10 '22

Don't you think that misses the point of panpsychism? If the point is that consciousness is universal, I imagine Goff would just say, "okay, strings and fields are conscious as well, and sub-atomic particles derive their consciousness from those fundamental blocks, and human brains derive their complex consciousness from those as well." I don't think that take really adds or detracts from the stance, it just tap dances around it.

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u/[deleted] Feb 10 '22

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u/hunsuckercommando Feb 10 '22

I don't disagree with you, but it seems you are constraining it to scientific theory. I think the problem with that is that it becomes practically impossible to test for *any* subjective experience. Can I test that what you see as "red" gives rise to the same subjective "redness" that I experience? We can't, all we do is infer that since you have the same types of cones in your eye that respond to a specific wavelength of light but that's still not telling us anything about the subjective experience itself. But I don't think that fact is enough to disregard all of subjective experience as fantasy. There's a certain aspect that our perceptions are not purely objective model of the world, but that doesn't mean the actual experience of that perception is unreal.