Can Consciousness Have Blind Spots? : A Renewed Defence of Sri Aurobindo's Opaque Cosmopsychism

Summary

This article defends Sri Aurobindo's cosmopsychism, arguing it has advantages over rival panpsychist positions. It critiques Miri Albahari's panpsychist idealism based on Śankara's Advaita Vedānta, finding its metaphysical commitments and eliminativist implications unsatisfactory. Aurobindo's cosmopsychism solves the individuation problem—how Divine Consciousness becomes multiple creaturely consciousnesses—through 'self-limitation' and 'exclusive concentration'. The paper addresses objections to this view.

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Abstract

This article defends the cosmopsychist doctrine of the Indian philosopher-mystic Sri Aurobindo, arguing that it has distinct advantages over rival panpsychist positions. After tracing the dialectical trajectory of recent philosophical debates about panpsychism up to the present, I bring Aurobindo into dialogue with Miri Albahari, who has defended a form of panpsychist idealism based on the classical Advaita Vedānta philosophy of Śankara. I critique Albahari's panpsychist idealism from an Aurobindonian standpoint, arguing that its Śankaran metaphysical commitments and eliminativist implications make it an unsatisfactory account of consciousness. I then summarize Aurobindo's cosmopsychism and explain its distinctive solution to the individuation problem, which is widely considered to be the most serious problem for all forms of cosmopsychism. According to Aurobindo, Divine Consciousness individuates into multiple creaturely consciousnesses through the twin processes of 'self-limitation' and 'exclusive concentration'. I conclude the paper by addressing several potential objections to Aurobindo's cosmopsychism.

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