ARTICLE: Making Sense of the Mental Universe. Bernardo Kastrup in Philosophy and Cosmology

“Making Sense of the Mental Universe”
Bernardo Kastrup
Journal: *Philosophy and Cosmology*
2017 Issue No: 19 Page Range: 33-49 Page Count: 17 Language: English

https://www.ceeol.com/search/article-detail?id=604525
Subject(s): Philosophy, Metaphysics, Philosophy of Mind, Philosophy of Science, Ontology
Keywords: quantum mechanics ; relational interpretation ; metaphysics ; ontology ; idealism ; mental universe;

**Abstract**
In 2005, an essay was published in Nature asserting that the universe is mental and that we must abandon our tendency to conceptualize observations as things. Since then, experiments have confirmed that — as predicted by quantum mechanics — reality is contextual, which contradicts at least intuitive formulations of realism and corroborates the hypothesis of a mental universe. Yet, to give this hypothesis a coherent rendering, one must explain how a mental universe can — at least in principle — accommodate (a) our experience of ourselves as distinct individual minds sharing a world beyond the control of our volition; and (b) the empirical fact that this world is contextual despite being seemingly shared. By combining a modern formulation of the ontology of idealism with the relational interpretation of quantum mechanics, the present paper attempts to provide a viable explanatory framework for both points. In the process of doing so, the paper also addresses key philosophical qualms of the relational interpretation.

https://www.ceeol.com/search/article-detail?id=604525

PDF
https://henry.pha.jhu.edu/The.mental.universe.pdf