Academics aren’t shrugging off the idea of Panpsychism

Panpsychism, the idea that every particle and all physical matter carry minute levels of consciousness, insults common sense to be blunt. However, a growing body of credible thinkers, neuroscientists and physicists are beginning to probe the concept, which to them, offers an escape from the riddled, unanswered questions about consciousness.

Philip Goff, a philosophy professor at Central European University in Budapest, articulately explains the flawed approach of following common sense in exploring the universe, citing the conclusions from Einstein and quantum mechanics, which defy common sense, but are true to the core, notes Quartz.

To the advocates of Panpsychism, the idea seems to be answering the “hard problem of consciousness” put forth by the philosopher David Chalmers in 1995 even as traditional models fail to fundamentally explain what causes consciousness, writes Scientific American.