Mental ill-health – better described as psychological and emotional distress – fundamentally involves consciousness, a subjective awareness and experience. So, if we misunderstand the nature of consciousness, then we will not be best placed to help those in distress.
But what is consciousness? Where does it come from? Is it is something that only humans have? Is the mind something different from the physical brain? Is consciousness real?
Such questions have been answered across the centuries in various different ways by philosophers and theologians, and also more recently by neuroscientists, psychologists, physicists and others.
One approach to this topic is set out by Prof. Philip Goff in this book. The publishers say:
“Understanding how brains produce consciousness is one of the great scientific challenges of our age. Some philosophers argue that consciousness is something ‘“’extra,’”’ beyond the physical workings of the brain. Others think that if we persist in our standard scientific methods, our questions about consciousness will eventually be answered. Some even suggest that the mystery is so deep that it will never be solved. Decades have been spent in trying to explain consciousness from within our current scientific paradigm, but little progress has been made.
Now, Philip Goff offers an exciting alternative that could pave the way forward. Rooted in an analysis of the philosophical underpinnings of modern science and based on the early 20th century work of Arthur Eddington and Bertrand Russell, Goff makes the case for panpsychism, a theory which posits that consciousness is not confined to biological entities but is a fundamental feature of all physical matter—from subatomic particles to the human brain. In Galileo’s Error, he has taken the first step on a new path toward the final theory of human consciousness.”
You can find out more from here.
