A Solution to the Combination Problem and the Future of Panpsychism

Consciousness may be a fundamental, field-like aspect of the universe rather than something tied to individual subjects. The paper argues that the 'combination problem' in panpsychism—how micro-consciousnesses combine into macro-consciousness—dissolves if the concept of a subject is an illusion. By rethinking consciousness as a pervasive field, the need to combine separate conscious subjects disappears. The work supports panpsychism as a valid scientific approach to the hard problem of consciousness and urges pursuing the question of whether consciousness is more fundamental than typically assumed.

Study at a glance

Abstract

This paper supports the scientific position that panpsychism is a valid category of possible resolutions to the hard problem of consciousness, and it focuses on a solution to the 'combination problem' in panpsychism. I argue for a new way of thinking about consciousness in which consciousness is not viewed in reference to subjects, and that the concept of a 'subject' is borne of the illusion of self. Therefore, we don't face a combination problem if the notion of a subject is superfluous and consciousness itself is pervasive in the form of a field. The paper is also a more general discussion about the importance of pursuing this scientific question in the twenty-first century: is consciousness a more fundamental aspect of the universe than we have previously assumed?