Cause, Effect, and the Nature of Mind

Conventional reductionist causation, where causal influence flows only from microphysical constituents upward, is metaphysically incomplete and inadequate. This paper develops the concept of radial causation, where every actual entity exerts causal influence outward in all directions without privileged bottom-up priority. Building on Whitehead's process metaphysics, causation has two inseparable aspects: an internal or mental aspect (each entity's perspective and subjectivity) and an external or material aspect. Radial causation allows top-down, bottom-up, and sideways causation, explaining how higher-level conscious entities can be causally efficacious without violating physical principles. General Resonance Theory and electromagnetic field theories of consciousness offer an empirically grounded implementation at the neural level.

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Abstract

What is causation, and how do mind and matter fit within the causal structure of reality? This paper argues that conventional reductionist causation — the view that causal influence flows only upward from microphysical constituents to larger and larger structures — is both metaphysically incomplete and inadequate to the facts. After surveying standard accounts of causation in Western philosophy and science, I argue against epiphenomenalism and the emergentist denial of genuine mental causation. In their place, I develop the concept of radial causation, according to which every actual entity exerts causal influence outward in all directions, with no privileged bottom-up priority. Building on Whitehead’s process metaphysics, I propose that causation has two inseparable aspects: an internal or mental aspect constituted by each entity’s own perspective and subjectivity, and an external or material aspect available to outside observers. Radial causation allows top-down as well as bottom-up causation (and “sideways causation”) and explains how higher-level conscious entities can be genuinely causally efficacious without violating physical principles. The paper concludes with a brief examination of how General Resonance Theory and contemporary electromagnetic field theories of consciousness provide one empirically grounded implementation of radial causation at the neural level, offering a mechanistic picture of how mind and matter interact as genuinely co-equal aspects of a single causal web. This is a radically participatory and collegial view of the universe.