A. Harris’s Panpsychism as Fundamental Field
Neuroscience/consciousness writer Annaka Harris posits that “consciousness isn't self-centered” and that we should “think of consciousness like spacetime—a fundamental field that's everywhere.”
Verified*
Annaka Harris
Writer
Annaka Harris is an American author whose work explores neuroscience, consciousness, and the philosophy of mind. She wrote the New York Times bestseller Conscious: A Brief Guide to the Fundamental Mystery of the Mind and the children’s book I Wonder. She also co-founded the science education group Project Reason.
Key Takeaways
Core Claim
Consciousness may be a fundamental field, like spacetime, present throughout reality.
How It Works
Consciousness is intrinsic to matter; complex arrangements yield subjective points of view.
Distinguishing Idea
Removes the “self” from the combination problem, seeing no literal merging of consciousnesses.
A. Harris’s Panpsychism as Fundamental Field
Neuroscience/consciousness writer Annaka Harris posits that “consciousness isn't self-centered” and that we should “think of consciousness like spacetime—a fundamental field that's everywhere.” In Conscious, her “meditation on the self, free will, and felt experience,” she wonders whether “we've been thinking about the problem backward. Rather than consciousness arising when non-conscious matter behaves a particular way, is it possible that consciousness is an intrinsic property of matter—that it was there all along?” (A. Harris, 2019, 2020).
Harris argues that contemporary panpsychism, the idea that “all matter is imbued with consciousness in some sense,” differs significantly from its earlier versions, now “unencumbered by any religious beliefs … [and] informed by the sciences and fully aligned with physicalism and scientific reasoning.” She carefully distinguishes between consciousness and thought so that if some primitive consciousness does inhabit all matter, this does not mean that inanimate objects, like rocks, have experiences or “points of view.” Only certain complex systems, like humans and other animals, have such (A. Harris, 2020).
Harris has a disarmingly simple solution for panpsychism's vexing combination problem. “We run into a combination problem,” she says, “only when we drag the concept of a ‘self’ or a ‘subject’ into the equation. The solution to the combination problem is that there is really no ‘combining’ going on at all with respect to consciousness itself.” It all depends on “the arrangement of the specific matter in question” (A. Harris, 2020).
As for “the correct resolution to the mystery of consciousness,” Harris says she personally “is split between a brain-based explanation and a panpsychic one. So while I'm not convinced that panpsychism offers the correct answer, I am convinced that it is a valid category of possible solutions that cannot be easily dismissed.” She prefers, however, a more neutral term, such as “intrinsic nature theory” or “intrinsic field theory” (A. Harris, 2020).
Tools
Cite