Panpsychism, Physicalism, Neutral Monism and the Russellian Theory of Mind

Author: Holman, Emmett

Source: Journal of Consciousness Studies, Volume 15, Number 5, 2008 , pp. 48-67(20)

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Abstract:

As some see it, an impasse has been reached on the mind- body problem between mainstream physicalism and mainstream dualism. So lately another view has been gaining popularity, a view that might be called the 'Russellian theory of mind' (RTM) since it is inspired by some ideas once put forth by Bertrand Russell. Most versions of RTM are panpsychist, but there is at least one version that rejects panpsychism and styles itself as physicalism, and neutral monism is also a possibility. In this paper I will attempt to sort out these different versions with a view to determining which, if any, have a chance of breaking the perceived impasse. The unsurprising conclusion will be that there are a lot of challenges ahead for the RTM theorist. The surprising conclusion will be that it's not clear that pan- psychist RTM holds an advantage over the other versions in this regard.

Document Type: Research article

Affiliations: 1: George Mason University, Email: eholman@gmu.edu

Publication date: 2008-01-01