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The relationship between consciousness and physics is explored through various philosophical and scientific frameworks, such as panpsychism and Russellian monism, which posit that consciousness may represent the intrinsic nature of matter that physics describes only extrinsically [1], [2], [3]. Furthermore, many scholars argue that the hard problem of consciousness may require a revolutionary change in fundamental physics [4], [5], while others investigate whether consciousness can be integrated into physical laws as a fundamental property [6], [7].
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Critique of Panpsychism: Philosophical Coherence and Scientific ... thequran.love 6 facts
claimGalen Strawson argues that the analogy between life and consciousness is flawed because life, when defined in biological terms, is fully explainable by physics and chemistry as complicated order, whereas consciousness is experiential and not captured by structure alone.
claimPanpsychism posits consciousness or proto-consciousness as the hidden internal aspect of matter, suggesting that physics has a blindspot regarding the subjective reality behind equations.
claimCertain interpretations of quantum mechanics, such as those by John von Neumann, Eugene Wigner, and Henry Stapp, have explored the idea of consciousness being fundamental, though mainstream physics has not adopted these ideas in testable ways.
perspectivePhilip Goff argues that by limiting physics to the quantitative aspects of matter, science rendered consciousness invisible to physical theory by design, leaving physics to describe what matter does rather than what it is intrinsically.
quoteLife (without consciousness) reduces [to physics]; experience doesn’t.
claimPhilip Goff and Galen Strawson advocate for a neo-Russellian monist view of consciousness, which is based on Bertrand Russell's insight that physics reveals the structure of matter but not its intrinsic character.
Moving Forward on the Problem of Consciousness - David Chalmers consc.net 5 facts
claimCritics Mills and Price argue that David Chalmers' invocation of fundamental laws to bridge physics and consciousness fails to solve the hard problem, instead providing only a sophisticated set of correlations.
perspectiveDavid Chalmers favors a Russellian interpretation of the informational picture of consciousness, where experience forms the intrinsic or realizing aspect of informational states that are fundamental to physics but characterized by physics only extrinsically.
perspectiveDavid Chalmers criticizes physics-based proposals for consciousness only when they are offered as reductive explanations, such as the claim that quantum mechanics can explain consciousness where neurons cannot.
perspectiveDavid Chalmers proposes that psychophysical explanations of consciousness will eventually be reduced to a simple core taken as primitive, similar to how physics treats fundamental laws.
claimClarke suggests that there is a connection between physics and consciousness rooted in the nonlocality of both.
Panpsychism (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy/Fall 2015 Edition) plato.stanford.edu 4 facts
perspectivePanpsychists argue that the dispositional properties of remote connectedness via informational states in basic physics represent the primitive consciousness of basic physical entities.
claimA significant problem for panpsychism is that even if a revolution in fundamental physics were required to account for consciousness, there is no clear reason why the new features of that transformed physics would necessarily be mental features.
perspectiveGalen Strawson suggests that only a revolutionary development in physics would allow consciousness to be discerned and described by science.
claimRoger Penrose (1989), John Searle (1991), Thomas Nagel (1979, 1986, 1999), and Noam Chomsky (1999) have all endorsed, suggested, or hinted at the idea that the problem of consciousness may necessitate a revolutionary change in physics.
Non-physicalist Theories of Consciousness cambridge.org 3 facts
claimDual-aspect monists propose that consciousness might realize physical structure, or that the relations described by physics are relations between phenomenal experiences.
claimNon-physicalism about consciousness is the view that the fundamental constituents of reality are not fully describable by completed, continuous physics because consciousness is either fundamental, constituted by something discontinuous with current physics, or ruled out by the negative criterion.
claimPhysicalism is the view that the fundamental constituents of reality can be fully described by completed physics that is roughly continuous with current physics and does not treat consciousness or protoconsciousness as fundamental.
Panpsychism - Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org 2 facts
claimConsciousness shares similarities with the intrinsic properties of physics, specifically that it cannot be directly observed from an outside perspective and it grounds observable extrinsic properties.
claimDavid Chalmers views consciousness as a candidate for the intrinsic properties that correspond to the extrinsic properties of physics.
The Hard Problem of Consciousness | Springer Nature Link link.springer.com 2 facts
claimDavid Chalmers assumes that consciousness is a natural phenomenon that follows universal principles or laws, even if it does not follow the same causal laws known from physics.
claimDavid Chalmers argues that physics emerges from the relations between entities, while consciousness emerges from their intrinsic nature, a view he claims is compatible with the causal closure of the microphysical and existing physical laws. He asserts that (proto)phenomenal properties serve as the ultimate categorical basis of all physical causation.
Consciousness studies : cross-cultural perspectives - Internet Archive archive.org 1 fact
referenceThe book 'Consciousness studies: cross-cultural perspectives' organizes Western traditions of consciousness into several key areas: primary awareness, paradoxical and pathological awareness, paranormal awareness, philosophical discussions on consciousness, mind and intentionality, the relationship between consciousness and the brain in physics, and various psychologies of consciousness.
Consciousness (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy/Fall 2025 ... plato.stanford.edu 1 fact
referenceMarshall, I. and Zohar, D. published the book 'The Quantum Self: Human Nature and Consciousness Defined by the New Physics' in 1990 through Morrow.
Psychedelics and Consciousness: Distinctions, Demarcations, and ... ouci.dntb.gov.ua 1 fact
referenceSolms published a paper in the Journal of Consciousness Studies titled 'How and why consciousness arises: some considerations from physics and physiology,' which explores the origins of consciousness through the lenses of physics and physiology.
Resolving the evolutionary paradox of consciousness link.springer.com 1 fact
claimRussellian panpsychism defines consciousness as the intrinsic nature or 'quiddity' of fundamental particles, distinguishing it from the particles' dispositions or behaviors described by standard laws of physics.
Panpsychism - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy plato.stanford.edu 1 fact
claimThe panpsychist proposal regarding electrons suggests that while physics describes how an electron behaves, the electron itself is essentially a thing that instantiates consciousness of an extremely basic kind.