The Great Contender

Any map of reality has to include the one part of it we can be sure exists: consciousness. 

Robert Lawrence Kuhn has catalogued nearly 500 theories of consciousness, which I think broadly fit into 5 categories:

• It emerges out of physical stuff
• It is separate and independent of physical stuff
• It is a property of physical stuff
• It emerges along with physical stuff out of something else
• Physicality is an appearance in it 

(I’ve not bothered to count any theories that deny awareness of their own existence. Sorry not sorry!)

Physicalism is a flat earth theory

Bernardo has claimed that physicalism is the worst metaphysical framework on the table. Instead, he champions a naturalist version of idealism that emerges from the analytic philosophy tradition; consciousness is fundamental, and the physical world is how mental processes beyond our individual minds appear to us.

He doesn’t, however, believe that analytic idealism is a full account of reality, but rather a step in the right direction. One that our culture might actually be ready for. 

This Tuesday, we’ll open the meeting with Bernardo's review of the metaphysical options that are on the table, which ones he confidently discards, and his intuitions about future directions.

I look forward to seeing you there,

Amir

Zoom Room

Tues 13th Oct 2026
6-8pm UK time / 7-9pm CEST / 1-3pm ET