In this Book
- Panpsychism in the West
- Book
- 2017
- Published by: The MIT Press
In 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. 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. After a brief discussion of general issues surrounding philosophy of mind, Skrbina examines the panpsychist views of philosophers from the pre-Socratics to the post-structuralists.
The original edition of Panpsychism in the West helped to reinvigorate a neglected and important aspect of philosophic thinking. This revised edition offers expanded and updated material that reflects the growth of panpsychism as a subdiscipline. It covers the problem of emergence of mind from a non-mental reality and the combination problem in greater detail. It offers expanded coverage of the pre-Socratics and Plato; a new section on Augustine; expanded discussions of Continental panpsychism, scientific arguments, Nietzsche, and Whitehead; and a new section on Russellian monism. With this edition, Panpsychism in the West will be continue to be the standard work on the topic.
Table of Contents
- Acknowledgments
- pp. ix-x
- 2 Ancient Origins
- pp. 23-76
- 6 The Anglo-American Perspective
- pp. 173-192
- 7 Panpsychism in the Years 1900–1950
- pp. 193-238
- 8 Scientific Perspectives
- pp. 239-264
- 9 Panpsychism from 1950 to the Present
- pp. 265-318
- 10 Toward a Panpsychist Worldview
- pp. 319-338
- Bibliography
- pp. 339-364