[The book] compiles an overarching case for idealism - the notion that reality is essentially mental - from ten original articles the author has previously published in leading academic journals. The case begins with an exposition of the logical fallacies and internal contradictions of the reigning physicalist ontology and its popular alternatives, such as bottom-up panpsychism. It then advances a compelling formulation of idealism that elegantly makes sense of - and reconciles - classical and quantum worlds. The main objections to idealism are systematically refuted and empirical evidence is reviewed that corroborates the formulation presented here.
Kastrup posits that reality is fundamentally mental, with the material world created by the universal consciousness (NOT by your individual consciousness) -- which solves "the hard problem" of how consciousness and qualia could arise from the action of physical particles. For Kastrup, our consciousness consists of a tiny, disassociated bit of universal consciousness captured in our brains -- and that speck of universal consciousness is why we aren't zombies, detecting and responding to input like the thermostat on your living room wall does but without EXPERIENCING anything.
Kastrup believes this means we are immortal, but I'm not on board with that. Brain damage can leave someone conscious but without much of their memory intact, and with neither memory nor the physical body, whatever's left isn't "me." I see no mechanism for individual memory to survive in the universe when a person's speck of individual consciousness is released and merges back into the entire universe -- a drop in the ocean and without the body's physical mechanisms for memory retention.
But that's me. Kastrup is an interesting read and much of his thinking has re-arranged my own.
Thank you very much. This is right up my alley. I have heard Kastrup’s name in reference, but don’t know anything about him. I will definitely go down this path.
Here's another author with similar but not identical views:
The Idea of the World: A Multi-Disciplinary Argument for the Mental Nature of Reality by Bernardo Kastrup.
Kastrup posits that reality is fundamentally mental, with the material world created by the universal consciousness (NOT by your individual consciousness) -- which solves "the hard problem" of how consciousness and qualia could arise from the action of physical particles. For Kastrup, our consciousness consists of a tiny, disassociated bit of universal consciousness captured in our brains -- and that speck of universal consciousness is why we aren't zombies, detecting and responding to input like the thermostat on your living room wall does but without EXPERIENCING anything.
Kastrup believes this means we are immortal, but I'm not on board with that. Brain damage can leave someone conscious but without much of their memory intact, and with neither memory nor the physical body, whatever's left isn't "me." I see no mechanism for individual memory to survive in the universe when a person's speck of individual consciousness is released and merges back into the entire universe -- a drop in the ocean and without the body's physical mechanisms for memory retention.
But that's me. Kastrup is an interesting read and much of his thinking has re-arranged my own.
Thank you very much. This is right up my alley. I have heard Kastrup’s name in reference, but don’t know anything about him. I will definitely go down this path.