2010 Vienna

In recent years there has been increased interest in the doctrine of panpsychism as a perspective worth advocating in the context of the mind-body problem. The heart of the mind-body problem is the so-called “hard problem of consciousness” – the problem related to the question: how does the subjective fit into our material world? Whereas it is not principally impossible that we will at one point have the ability to describe all of our conscious behavior and the related functional features of the mind via physical concepts, we currently have no idea how an objective description of the subjective dimension of the mind should be possible. Panpsychism is offered as a candidate to deal with this problem taking into account certain basic concepts of physical science as well as the subjective dimension of consciousness. In the ongoing discussion on panpsychism some of the scholars have defended it as the only coherent solution of the mind-body problem whereas others regarded it with skepticism due to some serious theoretical problems involved in it. 

In this two-day workshop emphasis will on the one hand be laid on the presentation of some current theoretical outlines and versions of panpsychism as candidates for a possible solution of the hard problem. On the other hand space should be given to the discussion of some theoretical problems (particularly the generation problem, the combination problem etc.) related to this doctrine.

Friday, May 14th 2010

Saturday, May 15th 2010