Finn Thwaite

What other entities do you have in mind? The physical things that emerge also seem to be reducible (à la Butterfield). Consciousness is the hardest thing to reduce, to the point of impossibility. So consciousness, if irreducible (big 'if'), seems relevantly different from other emergent things.

The Center for Philosophy of Science is proud to congratulate former visiting fellow Andrea Roselli on the publication of two papers. Scan the QR code or visit our website for more information.

#PhilosophyofScience

I was just there to give a presentation (on fusion emergence), and I thought the same thing! It's very unique and quite beautiful. Especially when the sun is shining or if it has snowed. And, unlike some of the responses to this, many others I was with thought the same thing!

I'm thankful for having been given the opportunity to present my analysis of fusion emergence from the perspective of the philosophy of physics at the 'Panpsychism, Non-Physicalism, and Causal Powers of Consciousness' workshop in @ruhr-uni-bochum.de. An enjoyable and insightful few days!

I had a great time at the ‘Panpsychism, Non-Physicalism, and the Causal Powers of Consciousness’ workshop with @heddamorch.bsky.social at Ruhr Uni Bochum. So many compelling new views that push the debate forward. I’m very grateful to have had this opportunity!

Photo by @finnthwaite.bsky.social! 📸

Isn't it just that on powerful qualities they're actually the same thing (even if they seem conceptually distinct), rather than there being a necessity relation between two distinct things?

“As the number of physicists increases, each specialty becomes more self-sustaining and self-contained. Such Balkanization carries physics, and indeed, every science further away, from natural philosophy, which, intellectually, is the meaning and goal of science.” — I.I. Rabi

Is panpsychism pseudophilosophy? A response to Walter Veit

Is panpsychism a philosophical dead-end or a legitimate response to the hard problem of consciousness? I respond to Walter Veit's critique and defend panpsychism as a serious metaphysical option, not ornamental fluff. #philsky @walterveit.bsky.social

Animal Consciousness (first paragraph of the article). First published Sat Dec 23, 1995; substantive revision Tue Jan 13, 2026. Is there something it’s like to be an octopus, a bee, a snail? For much of the twentieth century, research into animal cognition tended to avoid questions of consciousness, following the lead of human neuroscience, where such questions were also marginalized (see the entries on animal cognition, methods in comparative cognition). However, the growing profile of consciousness science since 2000 has brought the topic of consciousness back into the scientific mainstream (see the entry on the neuroscience of consciousness), and this has led to resurgent interest in studying conscious experience in other animals.

I've been working for ages on a comprehensive revamp of the Stanford Encyclopedia Entry on "Animal Consciousness", with new sections on non-Western perspectives, methodological challenges and evolutionary big pictures, and it's out today: plato.stanford.edu/entries/cons.... Hope you find it useful!

Can Your Beliefs Change What You See? A Very Short Introduction to Cognitive Penetration

open.substack.com/pub/thezombi...

Merry Christmas to me!

Does the Morning Star and Evening Star Keep You Up at Night? A Short Intro to Frege's Semantic Dualism...

open.substack.com/pub/thezombi...

My article on aeonophiles (ultra-long lived organisms) came out in Aeon Magazine today!

computers will be twice as powerful 10,000 times larger and so expensive that only the five richest kings of Europe will own them.

He Knew

Why take panpsychism seriously The radical idea that consciousness is everywhere

In my first Substack post, I write about why panpsychism - the view that consciousness is everywhere - should be taken seriously. While seemingly radical, it rests on a set of individually compelling premises about the nature of reality. Subscribe for more! ✨ #philsky

Monadic panpsychism - Synthese One of the main obstacles for panpsychism, the view that consciousness is fundamental and ubiquitous, is the difficulty of explaining how simple subjects could combine to form complex subjects. Known ...

We're all fundamental. Here's my weird take on #panpsychism. Open-access article! 🙂 #philsky

Substance Abuse How Physicalists Get High on Their Own Supply

“Within this culture, physicalism often functions not as a contested ontological thesis, but as a default assumption, one barely needing defence. As a result, arguments in favour of physicalism are typically held to a far lower standard of scrutiny than those opposing it.“

@finnthwaite.bsky.social

Banging My Hands on My Head to Prove the World is Real “Seeing, contrary to popular wisdom, isn’t believing.

substack.com/@thezombiese...

Thanks to whoever gave/sold this to Skoob books. What a find! Excited to read the real thing rather than the PDFs.

Philosophy is more divided than ever - but how is it affecting our love lives? I spent a year dating empiricists to find out

it’s a competition.

The Indispensability of Intuitions Cambridge Core - Epistemology and Metaphysics - The Indispensability of Intuitions

The Indispensability of Intuitions by @gnosishead.bsky.social . New in the Elements in Epistemology series. Free download till 5 November. www.cambridge.org/core/element...

Maybe not surprising when you consider how much of academia functions as a refuge for weird little gremlins who just want to be left alone to work on our model trains

It's too far-fetched, unfortunately.

Text reads: Google search bar: “how to clean a rescued pigeon” Al Overview Pigeons are usually clean, even wild ones. You can try these steps to clean a rescued pigeon: • Remove the label • Remove the head • Make a small incision in the wing and snap to join •Cut off the wing •Remove the legs • Clean the top bone

Oh.

That doesn’t seem right

people *always* see Superman and Clark Kent in the same place

The abstract of "AI Consciousness: A Centrist Manifesto", available at the posted link.

Here is "AI Consciousness: A Centrist Manifesto". I've been working on this feverishly because the issue seems to me so urgent - and I'm worried extreme positions on both sides are becoming locked in, when the best way forward is in the centre. Please read it! philpapers.org/rec/BIRACA-4

I'm honored to have my work featured in this workshop in Bochum, January 29-30 2026. See the poster for Call for papers, and list of excellent other speakers!

For all of us there should be some threshold where we put aside all our other projects and focus instead on resisting tyranny. It's just extremely difficult to see where that line is from the inside, when you're the frog being boiled.