Suchergebnisse

The metaphysical vision of Advaita Vedānta has been making its way into some corners of Western analytic philosophy, and has especially garnered attention among those philosophers who are seeking to develop metaphysical systems in opposition to both reductionist materialism and dualism. Given Vedānta's monistic view of consciousness, it might seem natural to put Vedānta in dialogue with the growing position of panpsychism which, although not fully monistic, similarly takes mind to be a fundamental feature of reality. This paper will evaluate to what extent Śaṅkara's monism can bypass the most pressing issues facing panpsychism, namely combination and individuation problems. As will be seen in this paper, while Advaita Vedānta is able to avoid some of the panpsychist problems, it struggles ultimately to ontologically ground illusion (māyā/avidyā) in a coherent manner. As a result, a conclusion of this paper is that although Śaṅkara's vision offers a promising route for those philosophers who take consciousness to be fundamental – including panpsychists – it cannot be uncritically adopted due to the problem of grounding Illusion.

Cover -- Half Title -- Series Page -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Contents -- Acknowledgements -- List of contributors -- Conjunctive Explanations in Science and Religion: An Introduction -- CONVERSATION I: Explanation in Science and Religion -- 1. Conjunctive Explanations: How Science and Religion Can Work Together -- Conjunctive Explanations: A Response -- 2. Agents as Difference Makers, or Why Many Human Actions Have Mental Causes -- Agents as Difference Makers: A Response -- CONVERSATION II: Designing Darwinism -- 3. The Telos of Darwin's Troubling Metaphor: Darwin's Pigeons, Dennett's Cranes, Fodor's Granny -- The Telos of Darwin's Troubling Metaphor: A Response -- 4. Asa Gray vs. Charles Darwin: Evaluating the Darwinian Case against Conjunctive Explanations -- Asa Gray vs. Charles Darwin: A Response -- CONVERSATION III: Irreducibilities, Material and Mental -- 5. God, Consciousness and Conjunctive Explanations -- God, Consciousness and Conjunctive Explanations: A Response -- 6. Complementary Causation and Emergence: A Substrate for Conjunctive Explanations -- Complementary Causation and Emergence: A Response -- CONVERSATION IV: Divine Causes and Mental Beliefs -- 7. A Conjunctive Explanation about Psychopathology? Hearing Voices, Psychosis and Religious Experience -- A Conjunctive Explanation about Psychopathology? A Response -- 8. A Conjunctive Explanation of the Mental Phenomenon of Christian Faith -- A Conjunctive Explanation of the Mental Phenomenon of Christian Faith: A Response -- CONVERSATION V: The (Im)possibility of Theological Explanations -- 9. Are Theological Explanations Superfluous? The Cognitive Science of Religion and Ockham's Razor -- Are Theological Explanations Superfluous? A Response -- 10. A Re-Evaluation of Non-Overlapping Magisteria -- A Re-Evaluation of Non-Overlapping Magisteria: A Response.