Panpsychism: The Radical Idea That Everything Has a Mind

Have you ever wondered if the sun, the moon, or the stars have feelings? Or if the rocks, the trees, or the clouds have thoughts? Or if the atoms, the electrons, or the quarks have experiences? If you have, then you are not alone.

Many philosophers throughout history have entertained the idea that everything in the universe has some form of consciousness, or a mind-like quality. This idea is called panpsychism, from the Greek words pan (all) and psyche (soul or mind).

Panpsychism is one of the oldest philosophical theories, dating back to ancient Greece, where thinkers like Thales, Plato, and Spinoza proposed that all things have a soul or a mind.

Panpsychism was also popular in the 19th century, when philosophers like William James, Alfred North Whitehead, and Bertrand Russell argued that consciousness is a fundamental and ubiquitous feature of reality....<<<Read More>>>....