Free Will and Panpsychism

I argue that a minimal condition of free action, the capacity of an agent to act for a reason, is incompatible with conventional atomic constitutive panpsychism. If fundamental particulars are physical and mental simples, then fundamental particulars cannot possess complex mental representations, including representing an action as for a reason. Options for the panpsychist include Leibnizian Pan-agentialism, Spinozist Cosmopsychism, Cavendishian Infinitism, and a kind of strong emergentist panpsychism on which acting for a reason is strongly emergent with increased complexity even while phenomenal consciousness is only weakly emergent.

Authors

Publication Details

Journal
Southwest Philosophy Review
Published
2025-01-01
DOI
https://doi.org/10.5840/swphilreview202541110
Primary Topic
Philosophy and Theoretical Science
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00
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article

Free Will and Panpsychism

Jeffrey J. Watson
Southwest Philosophy Review
Philosophy and Theoretical Science
article

Free Will and Panpsychism

Jeffrey J. Watson
article en

Abstract

I argue that a minimal condition of free action, the capacity of an agent to act for a reason, is incompatible with conventional atomic constitutive panpsychism. If fundamental particulars are physical and mental simples, then fundamental particulars cannot possess complex mental representations, including representing an action as for a reason. Options for the panpsychist include Leibnizian Pan-agentialism, Spinozist Cosmopsychism, Cavendishian Infinitism, and a kind of strong emergentist panpsychism on which acting for a reason is strongly emergent with increased complexity even while phenomenal consciousness is only weakly emergent.

Southwest Philosophy ReviewVol. 41(1)
Openalex Percentile: Top 87%
Philosophy and Theoretical Science
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Free Will and Panpsychism — Jeffrey J. Watson · Southwest Philosophy Review (2025) | TGRS Research Map | TGRS