Panpsychism in the West Quotes

“Parmenides (545–460 BC) developed ingenious arguments for the view that only Being is possible and therefore that only Being exists. This entails that Becoming, conceived as a change from non-being to being (or vice versa), doesn’t exist—because non-being is not possible. The existence of change in the world is an illusion, he said; therefore motion, and even time itself, are also illusory. This was a radical view, as it directly contracted the centrality of the concept of motion within natural philosophy.”
― David Skrbina, Panpsychism in the West

“If we attempt to construct a rational argument for panpsychism from these two fragments, it would go something like this: Material objects—humans, animals, wind, sea, magnets, heavenly bodies—have the power of motion; they move either themselves or surrounding things. The material object we know most intimately—our own body—possesses an energy, called psyche, that accounts for our power. Under the assumption that the world is rational and that humans are not ontologically unique, a reasonable conclusion is that all things with a motive power also possess psyche. And in light of the fact that we live in a connected, unitary cosmos, it is difficult to explain why only certain material objects are ensouled and not others. Therefore, a reasonable conclusion is that all things possess psyche, to a greater or lesser degree. I will call this the Indwelling Powers argument for panpsychism. It is the first of several that we find throughout history.”
― David Skrbina, Panpsychism in the West

“Mind could never have emerged from no-mind. Therefore, it was there all along. And if it was there all along, panpsychism obtains.”
― David Skrbina, Panpsychism in the West

“Hylozoism’ derives from the Greek hyle (“matter”) and zoe (“life”); it is the doctrine that all matter is intrinsically alive.”
― David Skrbina, Panpsychism in the West

“Panpsychism is not a spiritual or theological theory. It is as naturalistic, rationalistic, and hard-nosed as any current theory of mind.”
― David Skrbina, Panpsychism in the West

“Mind is a fundamental feature of the world which exists throughout the universe. (Seager 2001)”
― David Skrbina, Panpsychism in the West

“Panpsychism alone is at once a conception of mind and a conception of reality.”
― David Skrbina, Panpsychism in the West

“will therefore interpret panpsychism in a soft sense: that mind is very widespread, is nearly universal in extent, and crosses deeply into the inorganic realm. The precise extent of mind depends on the particular theory at hand.”
― David Skrbina, Panpsychism in the West

“To put a bit more structure to our definition, we may say that panpsychism holds that all things have a mind or a mind-like quality.”
― David Skrbina, Panpsychism in the West