The Unexpected Comeback of the Conscious Universe - Pt. II
Matter, sentience, and the mystery of life
In the last post, I describe why and how old metaphysical speculations about the nature of consciousness in its individual and universal manifestation, such as panpsychism, are experiencing a revival. The failure of neuroscience centered on a materialistic and reductionist perspective, in furnishing any explanation for the emergence of sentient life, led some scientists and philosophers of mind to give a post-material worldview a chance.
For similar reasons, while a strictly materialistic, reductionist, and gene-centric view of life allowed biology to describe in great detail the machinery of life, it failed to account for the origin and nature of its agency, the purposeful-driven, volitional, and cognitive aspect, and, at least in complex organisms, the emergence of consciousness, mind and in its emotional, and experiential dimension as well. When it comes to these deeper philosophical and existential questions, biology hasn’t made mu…
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