Rāmānuja’s cosmopsychist-panentheistic solution to the hard problem of consciousness

Summary

A philosophical argument proposes that Rāmānuja's Viśiṣṭādvaita Vedānta, a qualified non-dualist school of Indian philosophy, offers a preferable solution to the hard problem of consciousness compared to other panpsychist or cosmopsychist views. This metaphysics is described as cosmopsychist-panentheistic, grounding a conception of God that is compatible with human free will. The work contrasts this with Advaita Vedānta, which has received more attention in cross-cultural philosophy of mind.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Abstract Recent decades have seen a renewal of interest in panpsychism as a solution to the hard problem of consciousness. This has, in part, also driven an increase in interest in classical Indian philosophical traditions among analytic philosophers of mind. Many of these cross-cultural studies pertaining to panpsychism (and cosmopsychism) have focused on one particularly influential school of Indian philosophy, Advaita (non-dual) Vedānta, the most famous proponent of which is Śaṅkara. In this work, we would like to consider the view of another influential philosopher and the school that developed based on his view – Rāmānuja (eleventh century CE) and Viśiṣṭādvaita (qualified non-dualism) Vedānta. We argue that a cosmopsychist-panentheistic metaphysics that is motivated by Rāmānuja’s views offers a solution to the hard problem that is preferable to other comparable views and could form the basis for a panentheistic conception of God that is compatible with the reality of the freedom of human selves.

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