There is a philosophical position known as “panpsychism.” While it is not an overwhelmingly popular position, it has been getting some attention of late. And as Whitehead himself is frequently characterized as a panpsychist, it seems worthwhile to cast an eye on this notion and say something about it. And of course, the first thing one should say should be an answer to Gollum’s question (“What is it, Precious?”)

The basic idea of panpsychism is that mental activity (the “psych” in “psychism”) is everywhere (the “pan” part. And by everywhere, it is meant to be at all levels of reality, large or small. Mental activity is, in this view, a fundamental element of all that is real, an ontological “primitive” (if you will) that is not constructed from other elements but rather is itself something that is always already “there.” The advantage of this notion is that it goes a long way to resolving the “mind/body” problem by basically arguing that there was never a real problem, only a problematic and erroneous characterization of the real.