Abstract

AbstractThe aim of this paper is twofold. First, our purpose is to propose and motivate a novel and scientifically informed variant of cosmopsychism, namely, the view that the experiences of ordinary subjects are ultimately grounded in an all-pervading cosmic consciousness. Second, we will demonstrate that this approach generates promising avenues for addressing familiar problems of phenomenal constitution. We use stochastic electrodynamics (SED) as the physical bedrock of our approach, supplementing it with key insights about the nature of consciousness long emphasized in eastern philosophy and other wisdom traditions. We proceed to show that our approach substantiates an intriguing way of thinking about the dynamical emergence of ordinary consciousness from cosmic consciousness, identifying the latter with the vacuum state of quantum field theory. Finally, we argue that the present approach is well suited to address problems of phenomenal constitution, in particular as they pertain to the qualities and structure of experience and to the generation of subjects.

Highlights

  • The last three decades witnessed a surge of interest in consciousness as a scientific and philosophical problem of the first rank

  • Itay Shani would like to thank the audience at the Idealism and the Mind-Body Problem workshop (NYU Shanghai, June ) for stimulating feedback that contributed to the motive force behind the present paper

  • In the present paper we argue that a combined approach that integrates both lines of work yields the resources for addressing some of the major difficulties associated with cosmic-macro constitution and the decombination problem

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Summary

Introduction

The last three decades witnessed a surge of interest in consciousness as a scientific and philosophical problem of the first rank. The same assumption gives rise to a quality constitution problem: How can the qualitatively rich inner world of macro-subjects emerge from the meager phenomenal background afforded by cosmic consciousness?

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