Philip Goff
@Philip_Goff
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Philosophy Professor at Durham Uni. Author of "Why? The Purpose of the Universe" & "Galileo's Error." "One of the most persuasive panpsychists" - Stephen Fry.
Durham, England
Joined November 2010
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Pinned Tweet
'Why? The Purpose of the Universe.' My new book with
@OUPPhilosophy
exploring the middle ground between God and Atheism. Pre-order now!
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I've been awarded £178,087 to work out if the universe is conscious. Any idea what I should spend it on?
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My 6 year-old daughter just asked, 'Daddy, how do explain colours to someone who's never seen them?' Oh happy day.
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I just got promoted to professor! Main advantage of this is that no longer will every conversation with my mother begin 'When are you going to be a professor?'
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'Galileo's Error: Foundations for a New Science of Consciousness'. Short animation about my new book.
#consciousness
#panpsychism
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Great advice from Dennett for engaging philosophically with those you disagree with.
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This sums it up. We are living in period of history in which people have no idea what philosophy is. That might be okay if people just didn't do philosophy, but the upshot is scientists continuously doing TERRIBLE PHILOSOPHY under the mistake assumption that it's science.
@Philip_Goff
I could never get a bad science book published but scientists get to write bad philosophy all the time.
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'Philosophy is a waste of time!' *then gives a (incredibly weak) philosophical argument in defence the philosophical position known as instrumentalism*
This whole thread is why I have little time for philosophy and philosophers. They spend their whole time inventing arguments to argue about. I have 2 electronics degrees. Despite not directly observing one, machines work just fine using the equations we use to describe electrons.
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Damning review for Sapolsky's free will book, in most prestigious place for academic philosophy reviews by leading philosopher of free will. If a book making many physics claims was critiqued in this way by a leading physicist it'd be big deal.
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The most important trait in a philosopher is curiosity about the views of one's opponents.
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@DavidAAldridge
What's the source of offence here? I worked bloody hard with this application, and it's the first success I've had after numerous rejections. I think it's okay to be a bit lighthearted in reporting it.
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So I reckon we should set up a fake Nobel prize in philosophy, just like economics has, so everyone thinks we’re a real science.
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Really sorry to hear about the passing of Daniel Dennett. A truly great philosopher. It was a great pleasure & honour to spend a week on a boat with him in the arctic ten years ago, and to argue with him on BBC last year. Same age as my dad, who passed away earlier this year.
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Just gave very high grade to an essay tearing my arguments apart.
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The fascinating thing about quantum mechanics is that it puts philosophy at the core of our scientific understanding of the universe. There is no consensus on what our best scientific theory is telling us about reality. It's a matter of philosophical judgement.
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At BBC to record 'In Our Time' on panpsychism. Nervous to be on my favourite show 😱
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So Sabine Hossenfelder has blocked me because of this tweet. Is that reasonable? I thought I responded to her in the same robust manner she responded to me.
No. Physicalism is a position in philosophy of mind that 52% of philosophers accept and 32% reject. Have some respect for other academic disciplines please.
@skdh
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ChatGPT isn't conscious and so doesn't understand anything. My article in The Conversation.
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Particles are conscious.
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If people don't get science, they think 'It's probably because this is a subject I'm not too familiar with'. If people don't get philosophy they think 'This is bullshit'. I had this problem with Joe Rogan.
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No. Physicalism is a position in philosophy of mind that 52% of philosophers accept and 32% reject. Have some respect for other academic disciplines please.
@skdh
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Our second child arrived 2:18 this morning. Overwhelmed with a mixture of tiredness and joy.
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How exactly is the bible the pre-condition for the truth that water is H2O? This guy is giving philosophy a bad name.
In the west, the Bible is the precondition for truth.
From 'You Probably Should Have Read The Bible'.
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A week since my accident, which resulted in crack to my skull and 2 brain bleeds. I'm healing well. My wonderful mum staying to help with kids, thus allowing me to do nothing but relax for first time I can remember. I've been working my way through all the Ghostbuster movies!
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Recently I can't stop dwelling on the fact that at some point in the future the stars will go out and there will never again be intelligent life anywhere, for ever more. People who say they're not bothered by this either haven't thought it through or are psychopaths.
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The moral focus on the weak and poor was the revolutionary move at the core of Christianity, which was somewhat important in the history of Western civilisation.
The axiomatic error undermining much of Western Civilization is “weak makes right”.
If someone accepts, explicitly or implicitly, that the oppressed are always the good guys, then the natural conclusion is that the strong are the bad guys.
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Rob Koons arguing that we need to return to Aristotle to make sense of quantum mechanics.
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My book has been provisionally called 'The Purpose of Existence', but the publisher are asking for something more suited to a general audience. Any suggestions? It's arguing that the universe has a purpose even though God doesn't exist.
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Having small operation with general anaesthetic today. My only worry is that I'm not sure, on philosophical grounds, whether the self survives a total cessation of consciousness, & therefore worried the person that wakes up might be someone different but with all of my memories.
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Drinking beer in sunshine watching my kids play. I've found the purpose of existence.
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I had bad accident Saturday night. Lost consciousness arguing with
@Disagreeable_I
about multiverse, and fell making a crack in my skull. He was amazing getting me to hospital where I've been ever since. Not in great way but slowly getting better!
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Back from hospital after 3 quite intense days. Will be a good few weeks recovery and more brain scans. Doctor said I've been lucky to avoid brain damage.
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Working on a new interpretation of quantum mechanics. Stay tuned!
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Which are worse: religious ideologues or atheist ideologues? I can't decide which I find more annoying.
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Turned on radio at 8:11 to hear someone railing against hypocrisy of our leaders, calling for production to be slowed & poor to be seen as human beings. Was mystified as to how come they had such a radical voice in the prime slot on
#bbcr4today
. Turned out to be Pope Francis.
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It depends what you think the goal of science is. Is it the noble aim of Newton and Einstein to uncover the ultimate nature of reality? Or is it just about building bridges and making ever more sophisticated egg whisks?
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Just signed a contract with Oxford University Press to publish my book 'The Purpose of Existence: Between God and Atheism' in 2023. My 1st book was an academic book; my 2nd was aimed at a general audience; this one's going to be both. Just got to finish it now...
@OUPPhilosophy
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Just because you can speak, that doesn't make you a grammarian. Just because you're a scientist, that doesn't make you an expert on the nature of science and the evidential support it provides. The relevant experts here are philosophers of science.
@skdh
🧵
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What philosophical claim have you changed your mind about in 2022?
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If philosophy has a bad reputation it's due to the dominance of a certain philosophical view: scientism.
@Philip_Goff
@skdh
Philosophy has a bad reputation. Yes, electrons exist, but philosophers probably deserve to be ridiculed even when they are right.
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When I reach 30k followers, I will reveal the purpose of existence.
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'The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts.' Bertrand Russell
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After wrestling with the hard problem of consciousness for 20 years, I now think physical science can explain consciousness. Materialism is strongly supported by science, and the only reason to doubt it is intuition, which hasn't served us very well in the past. 1/2
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'The Mystery of Consciousness if Deeper than we Thought'. My new article in Scientific American!
@sciam
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I believed in God until I was 14. Then I was accepted atheism until I was 39. Then I realised both of these views have things they can't explain.
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This view is self-defeating. It's saying knowledge is confined to what can be empirically tested. But that view itself can't be empirically tested. We realised 70 years ago logical positivism had this problem & yet ignorance of philosophy means we keep repeating the same errors.
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I'm surprised to hear this from
@danieldennett
“There are plenty of philosophers who would drum me out of the club.” Obviously many philosophers profoundly disagree with Dennett (me!) but I've never ever met one who denies Dennett's a great philosopher.
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My new article on 'religion without belief'. Of everything I've written, this is the most important to me. Aimed at general audience.
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My academic book is now available in paperback. Are you ready to take the next step?
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Surely if you believe in the Trinity, the appropriate pronoun for God is 'They'.
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It's unhinged dogmatism to be 99.9999 sure of anything. Discuss.
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'The universe is built a lot like a giant brain – so is it conscious?' My defence of a conscious universe is philosophical rather than scientific, but interesting to see more openness to this hypothesis.
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If there is a God, they have limited power. Why tie yourself up in knots trying to explain why an all-powerful God allows suffering, when a much simpler hypothesis is that suffering exists because God is not able to prevent it?
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'Many physicists assume we must live in a multiverse – but their basic maths may be wrong.' This just out!
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Just peer reviewed a great paper attacking me...I recommended publication!
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How come traditional Christians are keen to focus on the sexual ethics of the first Christians, but not the fact that they shared all their property?
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Just had a great 45 minute chat with a doctor at the hospital, discussing my recent brain scans. Skull crack and two brain bruises healing well. Should be a full recovery by the end of the summer. I've been very lucky!
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Yesterday was first brief trip out since brain bleed 2 weeks ago. Getting better but still not got much energy.
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I had friend doing a PhD arguing that morality is very demanding, i.e. Singer-type arguments that we ought to give as away much money as we can. I remember him explaining this very earnestly & when I asked him how much he gave away he laughed and said, 'None, it's my money.'
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My doctor seemed to think it wasn't a 'real medical concern' that the self might not survive the total cessation of consciousness brought about by general anaesthetic. What could be a more serious medical concern that ceasing to exist??!!
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The majority opinion among philosophers of science is that we're ontologically committed to the entities our theories refer to. You're asserting without argument a fringe, minority view among the relevant experts as though it were as obvious as 'grass is green'.
@skdh
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Just explained the problem of free will to my 7 year old. Cried a bit to see her excited by philosophy.
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You need to consciously experience what happened in an experiment to get any empirical data.
Electrons play a causal role in our best scientific theories…consciousness does not.
Heck no.
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physics doesn't tell us what matter is, it just tells us what it does. So there's a big hole in our scientific picture of the universe. Panpsychists put consciousness in that hole.
@Lasermazer
@Philip_Goff
@SpeedWatkins
thank you, but I'm not an academic so I require the Feynman technique, can you explain it like you were explaining it to a child
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This just arrived! Many of the essays available for free here:
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No academic philosopher accepts the 'Who designed the designer?' objection to the fine-tuning argument. It's simply not an issue that has any bearing on the premises of the Bayesian versions that are actually discussed in the academic literature.
What do religious people think I got wrong in "The God Delusion" ?
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'Our improbable existence is no evidence for a multiverse.' My new article in Scientific American.
@sciam
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Yesterday we buried my dad's ashes in a beautiful bit of English countryside. It was the perfect location for someone with his love of nature and his non-standard religious views. I read 'Away, Melancholy', a poem he liked which expressed for me his optimism about humanity.
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Was really amazing to do
@BBCInOurTime
on 'Panpsychism'.
@timcrane102
gave wonderfully novel critique of panpsychism, and Joanna Leidenhag was brilliant on its spiritual aspects. You can listen on Thursday!
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Francis Crick on philosophers: 'Listen to their questions, but don't listen to their answers.'
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Some people think we academics are indoctrinating the students to be 'woke.' Let me tell you: they are more radical than us when they arrive. Wouldn't you be radical if you were growing up with the world on fire?
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Materialism has never made any progress in explaining how consciousness could emerge from the physicalism world; panpsychism has satisfactorily explained how the physical world could emerge from consciousness; dualism is unparsimonious; therefore, panpsychism.
Curious about something--do you have a firmly settled ontological view (e.g., substance dualism, eliminative materialism, panpsychism...) and if so, what got you to settle for this view? I personally don't, but I see so many people who do, I'm curious.
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Now I’ve finished the chapter of my book where I annoy all the believers (by arguing that God probably doesn't exist), it's time for the chapter where I annoy all the atheists (by arguing that the universe probably has a purpose).
#Philosophy
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This is absurd...what the hell has panpsychism got to do with the far right????
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I have taught logic at university level
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Thought I had perfect theory that solves all the problems, then last week gave zoom talk to 75 philosophers and realised it was a load of bollocks...after multiple long, dark nights of the soul, I once again have the perfect theory that solves all the problems...& so it goes on..
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According to our current best physics the universe is fine-tuned for life. It's astonishing how many people feel able to deny the science on this.
@AndeolLe
@Philip_Goff
He’s just speculating. We don’t actually know whether life wouldn’t be possible with different constants. Until that time the fine tuning argument is low level speculation.
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Public debate with me and
@seanmcarroll
on 'Is Consciousness Fundamental?' After 7 hours debating on our podcasts, we finally did this in person.
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Currently thinking of calling my book 'Why We Are Here: The Purpose of the Universe.' Sound good?
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It's been great to see so many of the people who strongly debate me here, and disagree with pretty much everything I say, wish me well from my recent injury. Thanks everyone!
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After a few online skirmishes,
@seanmcarroll
and I will be debating Panpsychism versus Materialism in person in New York, Friday 15th September. Should be fun!
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This is symptomatic of how ignorant our society is of philosophy. I must sound really bitter banging on about this, but it's only because I passionately believe our culture would be so much richer if it engaged more with philosophers. (I blame philosophers for this as well btw!)
Damning review for Sapolsky's free will book, in most prestigious place for academic philosophy reviews by leading philosopher of free will. If a book making many physics claims was critiqued in this way by a leading physicist it'd be big deal.
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Just got my copy of this! (My essay from it freely available on my website)
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I continuously subject my most deeply help philosophical convictions to the strongest objections I can think of. Do you do the same?
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A student came up to make a small correction after my lecture today: "Bertrand Russell debated Copleston, not Cobblepot. Cobblepot is the Penguin from Batman." Felt a bit embarrassed...
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'Is Consciousness Part of the Fabric of the Universe?' Excellent article by
@danfalk
for
@sciam
on the recent conference
@AndreiBuckareff
& I organised on panpsychism, featuring
@seanmcarroll
,
@annakaharris
,
@donalddhoffman
and many others.
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Three PhD students just arrived in Durham to work with me...first meeting of the Durham Panpsychism Club...
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Sorry to people who are bored to death of me making this point, but the scientific evidence is neutral on all the philosophical theories of consciousness, physicalism, dualism, panpsychism, etc. They are all empirically equivalent interpretations of the scientific data.
@Philip_Goff
But don't we make predictions based on (not off, please) physicalism all the time?
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Baffling how much controversy you can cause stating the mainstream position of philosophers of science on the topic of...philosophy of science...
If you're wondering why physicists don't like talking to philosophers, it’s because conversations like these do nothing to advance the field.
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We can't observe electrons, but they're part of a good theoretical explanation of what we can observe. What am I missing?
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I plan soon to launch a YouTube channel interviewing philosophers. Is 'The Mind Under Lockdown' a good name? If not, what?
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To all my physicalist friends out there: I'm really happy to robustly debate here, but I'm going to block people who are incapable of discussing in a respectful manner.
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I'm partly joking, but it's striking to find one position on a philosophical issue on which there is no consensus being presented as established scientific fact.
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My understanding is most historians think this didn't happen. Moreover, it didn't need to, as Galileo demonstrated Aristotle's view involved contradiction and so couldn't be true. Maybe
@patchurchland
thinks we should be open to square circles until we GET DATA to rule them out.
Ahem. Galileo used an actual experiment, dropping heavy and light balls from the tower of Pisa. And observing. Yes, by all means, imitate Galileo's method. GET DATA.
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