Harmony in a panpsychist world.

Summary

Panpsychism offers a compelling explanation for the relationship between consciousness and normative states, suggesting that conscious experiences are not merely biological but ubiquitous in nature. This perspective addresses the explanatory challenges faced by traditional biological theories, which often struggle to account for harmonious correlations between experiences and their outcomes. By proposing a form of 'psychophysical fine-tuning,' panpsychism aligns with multiverse hypotheses, hinting at a deeper rationality and design within the universe, where teleological laws might govern the intricate dance of consciousness and existence.

Abstract

Experiences tend to be followed by states for which they provide normative reasons. Such harmonious correlations cry out for explanation. Theories that answer or diminish these cries thereby achieve an advantage over theories that do neither. I argue that the main lines of response to these cries that are available to biological theorists-theorists who hold (roughly) that conscious subjects are generally biological entities-are problematic. And I argue that panpsychism-which holds (roughly) that conscious subjects are ubiquitous in nature-provides an attractive response to these explanatory cries. Taken together, these considerations underwrite a kind of 'psychophysical fine-tuning' argument in support of panpsychism, one that is reminiscent of cosmological fine-tuning arguments in favor of multiverse hypotheses.

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