Panpsychism and Free Will: A Case Study in Liberal Naturalism

Goff, Philip

Abstract

There has been a resurgence of interest in panpsychism in contemporary philosophy of mind. According to its supporters, panpsychism offers an attractive solution to the mind–body problem, avoiding the deep difficulties associated with the more conventional options of dualism and materialism. There has been little focus, however, on whether panpsychism can help with philosophical problems pertaining to free will. In this paper I will argue (a) that it is coherent and consistent with observation to postulate a kind of libertarian agent causation at the micro-level, and (b) that if one if believes in libertarian agent causation at the macro-level, there are significant advantages in also postulating its existence at the micro-level.

Citation

Goff, P. (2020). Panpsychism and Free Will: A Case Study in Liberal Naturalism. Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, 120(2), 123-144. https://doi.org/10.1093/arisoc/aoaa009

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Online Publication Date: Jul 20, 2020
• Publication Date: 2020-07
• Deposit Date: Nov 24, 2020
• Publicly Available Date: Jul 20, 2021
• Journal: Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society
• Print ISSN: 0066-7374
• Electronic ISSN: 1467-9264
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 120
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 123-144
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/arisoc/aoaa009
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1250467