Panpsychism is a rarely named but nevertheless perennial and influential subcurrent in the history of Western philosophy. David Skrbina does us a crucial service by offering a wonderfully comprehensive historical overview of an idea whose time is, perhaps, about to come.
Freya Mathews, School of Philosophy, LaTrobe University, Australia
...a very interesting and I think important, book....very impressive. It raises a number of very important questions...and it suggests a number of important directions for important research.
Philosophical Reviews
...a valuable, readable work. I liked the book very much and recommend it highly to any reader interested in pondering alternatives to our depersonalizing, dehumanizing, mechanizing, scientistic, disenchanted and disenchanting worldview and practices.
Metapsychology Online Reviews
...a very comprehensive treatment, worthy of five stars. Skrbina writes about my favored panpsychists: C.S. Peirce; A.N. Whitehead, Teilhard de Chardin, and C. Hartshorne. He makes a very impressive case for panpsychism, taking us into modern time. His book is must reading.
Journal of Consciousness Exploration & Research
As Skrbina shows in this book, panpsychism is one of the oldest of all philosophical doctrines extant and was put forth by the ancient Greeks, in particular Thales and Plato. Baruch Spinoza and Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz who laid down the intellectual foundations for the Age of Englightenment argued for it, as did Arthur Schopenhauer, William James, the father of American psychology, and the Jesuit and paleontologist Teilhard de Chardin. Skrbina's volume gives a great introduction to this doctrine and its reception in the west, from ancient times until today.
Christof Koch
Skrbina argues that panpsychism is nearly everywhere in the history of philsophy of mind, a startling view we might call 'panpanpsychismism.' This rollicking history tour is detailed and complete enough both to school philosophers of mind, and to provoke historians of philosophy of mind. In assembling many historical and contemporary arguments, it also sets the agenda for contemporary friends and foes of panpsychism.
Eric Lormand, Department of Philosophy, University of Michigan
Panpsychism in the West provides a long overdue and much needed reexamination of this age-old doctrine, one which still retains some fascination for modern philosophy of mind. Skrbina's brisk, no-nonsense approach reveals the amazing influence panpsychism has had throughout the history of philosophy as a persistent counterweight to the rise of mechanistic science and scientistic philosophy. This book will be of immense use to students and of great interest to anyone who cares to see the full range of philosophical opinion as it has evolved over the centuries.
William Seager, Department of Philosophy, University of Toronto at Scarborough
