Universal consciousness (Introduction)

by dhw, Friday, February 09, 2018, 13:00 (2479 days ago) @ David Turell

DAVID: An other essay on the universe as conscious by a philosopher. I have always proposed that universal consciousness is God. This essay does not do that:
https://aeon.co/essays/cosmopsychism-explains-why-the-universe-is-fine-tuned-for-life?u...

QUOTE: I suggest that the agentive cosmopsychist postulate a basic disposition of the Universe to represent the complete potential consequences of each of its possible actions. In a sense, this is a simple postulation, but it cannot be denied that the complexity involved in these mental representations detracts from the parsimony of the view. However, this commitment is arguably less profligate than the postulations of the theist or the multiverse theorist. The theist postulates a supernatural agent while the agentive cosmopsychist postulates a natural agent.

DAVID’s comment: Sounds like God to me. His only complaint about God is the problem of evil, which comes from religion and its assumption God is entirely benevolent. We don't know that about God. He could easily be conceived of as 'tough love'. Very long. Worth reading all.

I cheered on reading your comment. Absolutely right. I don't have time to read the whole thing, but judging by your edited version (for which many thanks), he has confused theism with religion. A universal consciousness is God, even if you call it agentive cosmopsychism, and the different postulations of different religions are irrelevant. The last sentence of the quote suggests that he is a pantheist.