Reexive monism is a philosophical position developed
by Max Velmans, in his book Understanding Conscious- ness (2000), to address the problemof consciousness. It is a modern version of an ancient viewthat the basic stu of the universe manifests itself both physically and as con- scious experience (a dual-aspect theory in the tradition of Spinoza). [1] The argument is that the universe is psycho- physical. [2] Monism is the view that the universe, at the deepest level of analysis, is composed of one fundamental kind of stu. This is usually contrasted with substance dualism, the view found in the writings of Plato and Descartes that the universe is composed of two kinds of stu, the physical and the stu of soul, mind or consciousness. Reexive monism maintains that, in its evolution from some primal undierentiated state, the universe dier- entiates into distinguishable physical entities, at least some of which have the potential for conscious experi- ence, such as human beings. While remaining embedded within and dependent on the surrounding universe and composed of the same fundamental stu, each human, equipped with perceptual and cognitive systems, has an individual perspective on, or view of, the rest of the uni- verse and him or her self. In this sense, each human par- ticipates in a process whereby the universe dierentiates into parts and becomes conscious of itself, making the process reexive. Donald Price and James Barrell write that, according to reexive monism, experience and mat- ter are two complementary sides of the same reality, and neither can be reduced to the other. That brain states are causes and correlates of consciousness, they write, does not mean that they are ontologically identical to it. [2] A similar combination of monism and reexivity is found in later Vedic writings such as the Upanishads. [3] 1 References [1] Velmans, Max. Dualism, Reductionism and Reexive Monism, in Max Velmans and Susan Schneider (eds.). The Blackwell Companion to Consciousness. Wiley- Blackwell, 2007, p. 346. Velmans, Max. Reexive Monism, Journal of Consciousness Studies, 15(2) pp.5-50 (2008) preprint Hoche, H-U. Reexive monism versus comple- mentarism: An analysis and criticism of the con- ceptual groundwork of Max Velmanss reexive model of consciousness, Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences, 6(3) pp.389-409 (2007), doi: 10.1007/s11097-006-9045-8 preprint [2] Price, Donald D. and Barrell, James J. Inner Experience and Neuroscience: Merging Both Perspectives. MIT Press, 2012, p. 277. [3] Rao, K. R. History of Science, Philosophy and Culture in Indian Civilization Volume XVI, Part 1: Cognitive Anomalies, Consciousness, and Yoga. New Delhi: Ma- trix, 2011, pp. 322-323, 376-383, 766-774. 1 2 2 TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES 2 Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses 2.1 Text Reexive monism Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reflexive_monism?oldid=531630026 Contributors: Visualerror, SlimVirgin, NormanGray, Sardanaphalus, Gregbard, Alaibot, Widefox, Leolaursen, Drm310, Anarchia, All Is One, Max Velmans, CohesionBot, AnomieBOT, Zero Thrust and Anonymous: 3 2.2 Images 2.3 Content license Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0