Does panpsychism entail anti-realism? The worm in the panpsychist apple
Religious Studies: An International Journal for the Philosophy of Religion September 5, 2025 Miri Albahari
Panpsychism holds that the structures of the world are realized by the experiences of subjects, but typically assumes those structures are observer-independent and often spatial. This assumption, described as the 'worm in the apple', underlies two major problems for panpsychism: the subject (de)combination problem and a newly identified 'inner-outer gap problem'. The author argues that abandoning this assumption sidesteps both problems, but doing so commits panpsychism to anti-realism.