Nondual Panpsychism: From the Extended Mind to Universal Consciousness and Śiva

Abstract

Descriptive metaphysics only describes the structure of thought about the world, according to P. F. Strawson, but revisionary metaphysics aims to produce a better structure. This article introduces a cross-cultural revisionary metaphysics, Nondual Panpsychism. It is cross-cultural in engaging with Indian philosophy. It is nondual in claiming that reality, although neither plural nor dual, is never One. Nondual Panpsychism is distinct from monism, dualism, and pluralism. It is a panpsychism, not maintaining that everything is conscious, but rather claiming that everything is a cognitive system. Cognition is an entity’s choice of action among perceived alternatives. All entities have agency, as they choose actions. Cognition is intentional, as it is about options, and it is ubiquitous. This article has eight sections. Following an introduction, the second section recognizes that metaphysical grounding is multidirectional, reflexive, and always partial. It further explains that the One of mysticism and monism is never fully One and that reality is never wholly real. The third section argues that there is no phenomenal consciousness, no Nagelian qualia, only access consciousness and access consciousness accessed. The fourth section argues that even if phenomenal consciousness did exist, the hard problem of consciousness could be dissolved and dismissed. Panpsychism is retained by refiguring consciousness as cognitive. The fifth section hyperextends the extended mind. A social group is a cognitive system. So is the universe. Groups and their members mutually ground each other. A group is a member of larger groups, moreover, and a member, an individual, is a group. This points the way to overcoming micropsychism’s combination problem and cosmopsychism’s decombination problem. The sixth section argues that Nondual Panpsychism sublates — that is, simultaneously negates, preserves, and transcends — several recent versions of cosmopyschism. Engaging in cross-cultural dialogue, the seventh section shows that Nondual Panpsychism and an Indian philosophy, Kaśmir Śaivism’s panentheistic pratyabhijñā (recognition) system, are compatible. It also discusses the limitations of recent versions of cosmopsychism which are compatible with Advaita Vedānta, another Indian philosophy. The final section has an altar call.