Cause, Effect, and the Nature of Mind
Preprints.org March 18, 2026 preprint DOI: 10.20944/preprints202603.1472.v1 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper |
|---|---|
| Topics | Philosophy of mind |
| Keywords | Causation Physicalism Consciousness Field mathematics Metaphysics Causal model Embodied cognition Reductionism Causality physics Epistemology Perspective graphical Causal structure Philosophy of science Interpretation philosophy Supervenience Cognitive science Denial |
| Key points | Proposes that radial causation, where causal influence radiates in all directions from every entity, resolves the problem of mental causation and allows higher-level conscious entities to be genuinely causally efficacious. |
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.
Comparable studies
Other theoretical and historical papers on philosophy of mind, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Psychosis as a state of aberrant salience: a framework linking biology, phenomenology, and pharmacology in schizophrenia. | 2003 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| From dopamine to salience to psychosis--linking biology, pharmacology and phenomenology of psychosis. | 2005 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| How do the brain's time and space mediate consciousness and its different dimensions? Temporo-spatial theory of consciousness (TTC). | 2017 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| The phenomenology of deep brain stimulation-induced changes in OCD: an enactive affordance-based model. | 2013 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Looking for the Self: Phenomenology, Neurophysiology and Philosophical Significance of Drug-induced Ego Dissolution | 2017 | Theoretical or philosophical paper |