Embodying Consciousness in Brains and Machines I: Mental Monism
Open Journal of Philosophy January 1, 2026 Peter Lloyd
Mental monism holds that reality consists only of conscious minds, a view often equated with subjective idealism but here given a distinct label to avoid confusion. The paper argues this framework deserves renewed attention because other approaches have failed to solve the hard problem of consciousness. It characterizes the conscious mind as a nonphysical, nonlocal system made solely of volitions and phenomenal experiences, governed by natural laws, and able to process information independently of brain tissue. A companion paper explores how such minds could be embodied in brains or machines, proposing a biologically plausible model for natural embodiment and suggesting an extension to artificial systems.