Panpsychism
Philip Goff, William Seager, Sean Allen-Hermanson · 2022 · Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
This source is used as context evidence across 4 linked claims and 6 related evidence hubs. Its citation record is marked verified; that verifies the source trail, not the truth of any linked claim.
Summary
Reference entry on panpsychism — the view that mentality is fundamental and ubiquitous in the natural world.
How this source is used on the map
Steel-manned version of the panpsychist position, distinct from popular caricatures.
Citation record
- Authors
- Philip Goff, William Seager, Sean Allen-Hermanson
- Year
- 2022
- Publication
- Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
- Source type
- Philosophy reference
- Map role
- context
- Credibility level
- primary
- Citation status
- Verified
- DOI
- Not recorded
- PubMed
- Not recorded
- Not recorded
Linked claims
The view that the universe as a whole is conscious — sometimes called cosmopsychism. Distinct from panpsychism (which puts mind in atomic matter) and from idealism (which says reality is mental).
If consciousness is basic, the 'hard problem' dissolves. The cost is a major break with the standard physicalist picture.
If basic matter has a hint of experience, complex brains can build complex minds. The 'combination problem' is the catch.
The view that the universe and God are identical — divinity is not separate from nature but is nature itself, in its totality.
Related evidence hubs
What consciousness is, how it relates to brains, and whether it's basic to reality.
The nature of subjective experience.
Mind–brain relation, qualia, intentionality.
Physics-adjacent worldviews — block universe, many-worlds, simulation, free will.
World religions and traditions, scored as systems.
Many-worlds, simulation, mathematical universe.
Related research reports
A comparative guide to materialism, dualism, panpsychism, idealism, filter theories, and consciousness-first interpretations.
A balanced synthesis of the strongest and weakest evidence across afterlife, consciousness, reincarnation, mystical, psi, and practice claims.
Related sources
Reference for claims that the universe itself is divine or conscious; it helps keep poetic, religious, and metaphysical versions of the claim distinct.
Frames the anthropic / multiverse / design debate that simulation, mathematical-universe, and theism claims all engage with.
The reference for what mind-body dualism means and why most contemporary philosophers reject it.
The reference for what 'reality is consciousness' / Berkeleyan / analytic idealism actually claims.
Pulls together the conceptual frameworks behind every empirical claim about consciousness.
Useful background for claims involving God, religious figures, or traditions because it clarifies what counts as a religious claim before evidence is weighed.