confusing

I thought thus would be a scientific plee for panpsychism. It starts out that way but then ends in a philosophy of ownership and rights to material goods. I don't see the connection

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

brilliant, so close...

a brilliant re-examination of many entrenched concepts along with some fantastic reimaginings of possible reconstruction for the world

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

What a book!

Absolutely loved this. Inspiring and covers many topics with solid arguments for and against. Each chapter has a more accessible opening followed by a "deep-dive". Kudos to Prof Goff for presenting these challenging ideas in such a passionate and compelling way (both content and narration).

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Fantastic Book

One of my favourite books, read with enthusiasm. I love Phillip Goff, his insights into the nature of consciousness are well reasoned and fascinating. Highly recommend.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Thought provoking, even if you don't agree with the author's conclusions

Loved the evaluation of major philosophical questions written with an awareness of many aspects of modern physics.

It's definitely written from a philosopher's perspective but the author is clearly well versed in modern physics and drives much of his reasoning from what is currently known, unknown, and what the implications of what that physics might be telling us.

I really liked the book's structure, with each chapter having an optional "digging deeper" section where the author goes through common objections to the arguments he's making. I really enjoyed these and would encourage people not to skip them.

Whilst the author is clearly well versed I'm Physics and roots many of his philosophical arguments in those concepts, the absence of similar discussion around Computer Science theories relating to artificial intelligence and emergence of consciousness felt like a big gap with many "obvious" objections left unanswered as a result. Maybe a good future edition update!

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

I liked the fact Philip read the book himself

Excellent & insightful. I downloaded the book after hearing about it on Philosophise This. A welcome and optimistic read.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Not quite what it says on the tin, fortunately.

Phiip Goff argues convincingly that there is purpose in the universe, using philosophy and sometimes science to make his point.
He believes that "panagencism"(if I understand it correctly, this means there is conciousness and active intention in all of nature) explains how this can be so without the need to posit a traditional creator God. (A lot of his ideas seem to sync with the idealism of Bernardo Kastrup, who suggests that consciousness, not matter, gives rise to everything and constitutes eveything.). I found this book very helpful because, in spite of having had a Christian upbringing and education, I was somehow taught to believe that matter was what mattered. We all had physical bodies and brains and these were what gave rise to consciousness and ( for those who believed in its existence), the soul. -an add-on, somehow vaguely attached. This was really a materialist position, so the only way to reconcile it with Christian religious myths was to believe they happened quite literally as described in the Bible. This seemed to me impossible to do logically, so I became agnostic. Later Ii read the writings of Jung and M. Scott Peck, the American psychiatrist, which helped me realise that it is mind, or conscoiousness, that creates the physical world, and not the other way round, and that religious myths are meant to convey truth without necessarily being literally true. If I understand him correctly, Philip Goff is saying something similar. He emphasises the need to find purpose in the universe, to connect with the More in order to live a fuller life, to be better, and to make the world a better place. He says this cannot really be done without religion. It is true that he rejects the concept of God as all powerful, omniscient and all-loving as being in compatible with the evil in the world. However, he appears to suggest that the More, of which we are a part but which is greater than us and is benign in purpose does exist-we just aren't able to know everything about it. Well, it may just be a matter of semantics, but I think that some people might equate that with God- though not the anthropomorphised God, the old man sitting on a cloud waiting to zap sinners.Goff seems to be saying that there is something some people might call God, we just need to work more on understanding -or intuiting-what it is . That's why I say the book doesn't exactly do what it says on the tin: It doesn't move on from both atheism and God. This is a good thing in my opinion, because believing in the More, or whatever you want to call it gives us hope and a purpose in life. I just thought I'd mention this because when I read the blurb about moving on from God I thought the theme might be that we are alone in the universe - a counsel of despair, in my opinion- and it almost put me off buying the book. I didn't want others to be put of for a similar reason.
I didn't quite understand why the last few chapters on property ownership, tax etc were included because they seemed to be only very loosely connected with the general theme, but because the book was so good otherwise I still gave it five stars.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful