Hylopathism

Hylopathism, in philosophy, can mean either the belief that some or all matter is sentient or the belief that properties of matter in general give rise to the subjective experience. It is generally opposed to the assertion that consciousness results exclusively from properties of specific types of matter, e.g. brain tissue.

Etymology and specific definition

The term is relatively uncommon even in philosophical discussion, and is often erroneously equated with panpsychism despite notable differences between the two views which are evident in the etymologies of the two words: "panpsychism" derives from the Greek "pan", "all", and "psyche", "soul" or "mind" (in philosophy the terms "consciousness" and "experience" are often preferred), and implies the sentience of all things; hylopathism derives from "hylo-", which is translated either as "matter" or "wood" depending on its context, and whose English equivalent is hyle, and "pathos", "emotion" or "suffering" (and, by extension, experience). Hylopathism is thus not necessarily a belief in the universality of sentience, but rather in the derivation of sentience from matter.

Hylopathism in popular culture

Author Philip Pullman, in his popular and controversial His Dark Materials series, builds on what is arguably a hylopathistic explanation of consciousness in his story in that the "Dust" referred to throughout the series is made up of "conscious particles" which "don't interact" with other things except in producing consciousness itself. The character Mary Malone calls them "shadows". Pullman relates these fictional particles to dark matter.

"Our particles are strange little devils, make no mistake. [...] You know what? They're conscious. That's right. Shadows are particles of consciousness. You ever heard anything so stupid? No wonder we can't get our grant renewed." -Mary Malone in "The Subtle Knife", pp. 77-78 of the U.S. box set version., pp. 92 UK edition.

Since in Pullman's series only "certain" particles cause consciousness, this idea is not completely equatable with hylopathism; however, it is closer to this than to, for example, panpsychism, since in the books Dust permeates all things to some degree without making everything conscious in the same way.

ee also

* panpsychism
* hyle
* Pathetic fallacy
* The Force (Star Wars)