Episode 57, ‘Pantheism: Personhood, Consciousness and God’ with Sam Coleman (Part I)

The Panpsycast Philosophy Podcast

Jack Symes | Andrew Horton, Oliver Marley, and Rose de Castellane

Euthanasia, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Existentialism, Marxism, Kant, Ethics, Davidpapineau, Dennett, Marx, Evilgodchallenge, Cosmological, Mind, Consciousness, Courses, Nagasawa, Education, Johnstuartmill, Jeremybentham, Aristotle, Ocr, Camus, Josephfletcher, Conscience, Society & Culture, Kantianethics, Philosophy

4.8 • 604 Ratings

🗓️ 24 March 2019

⏱️ 43 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Specialising in philosophy of mind, Sam Coleman is a reader in philosophy at the University of Hertfordshire. Coleman’s main work centres around questions concerning consciousness, predominantly, on what has come to be known as ‘the hard problem of consciousness’. To paraphrase Colin McGinn, the problem can be summarised as follows: how does soggy grey matter give rise to vivid technicolour experience?

In this episode, we’re going to be focusing on Coleman’s views concerning ‘Personhood, Consciousness and God’, specifically relating to pantheism. In a word, pantheism is the view that God is identical with the universe, as the pantheist slogan goes, “God is everything and everything is God.” If we are to think of personal identity as a stream of uninterrupted consciousness, Coleman argues that pantheism runs into significant problems. Instead, Coleman suggests an alternative theory of personhood which leaves open the possibility of a personal God, which is identical with the universe. As we will find, Coleman’s view bridges fascinating philosophical questions concerning personal identity, metaphysics of consciousness and God, into an original and exciting pantheist theory.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Specializing in Philosophy of Mind, Sam Coleman is a reader in philosophy at the University of Hertfordshire.
0:14.0	Coleman's main work centres around questions concerning consciousness, predominantly, and what has come to be known as the hard problem of consciousness.
0:22.6	To paraphrase Colin McGinn, the problem could be summarised as follows.
0:26.3	How does soggy grey matter give rise to vivid technical experience?
0:31.0	In this episode, we're going to be focusing on Coleman's views concerning personhood, consciousness, and God,
0:37.2	specifically relating to pantheism.
0:40.1	In a word, pantheism is the view that God is identical with the universe, as the pantheist
0:45.7	slogan goes, God is everything and everything is God.
0:49.9	If we are to think of personal identity as a stream of uninterrupted consciousness, Coleman argues
0:55.8	that pantheism runs into significant problems.
0:59.7	Instead, Coleman suggests an alternative theory of personhood which leaves open the possibility
1:05.4	of a personal god which is identical with the universe.
1:10.2	As we will find, Coleman's view bridges fascinating philosophical questions concerning personal
1:15.9	identity, the metaphysics of God and consciousness into original and exciting pantheist theory.
1:23.4	This episode is the first in a four-part series on pantheism that will be released across 2019. As part of this series, we'll also be interviewing Emily Thomas, Claire Carlisle, and Andrei Bukoref. These episodes are sponsored by the Pantheism and Pantheism Project, which is led by Antri Bukoref and Eugene Nagasawa and funded by the John Templeton Foundation. A huge thank you to the Pantheism and Pantheism Project for their support. As always, a huge thank you to Cullum St. Gabriel's and all of our patrons for supporting the show. A massive thank you in particular to Lily Hooper, David Lageness, and Jim Claire. Lily Jim and David, the Holy Trinity underpinning the Panpsychast on behalf of every conscious mind listening today, thank you for your support.
2:02.7	If you're enjoying the show and you're as awesome as Lily Jim and David,
2:05.5	head over to our Patreon page.
2:06.9	That's patreon.com forward slash panpsychast to show your support.
2:10.2	A link is also in the iTunes description.
2:13.4	In part one, we're going to look at personhood and consciousness.
2:16.2	And in part two, we'll be looking at God, as well as engaging in some further analyses and discussion.
2:23.4	Thank you. We hope you enjoy the show. Hello and welcome to episode 57 of the Panseye cast.
	...

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