ABSTRACT

This chapter explains that panpsychism, at least according to certain readings, can navigate difference inasmuch as it can serve as a base for different religions without unduly compromising their realist intentions. It outlines one particular version of communicative panpsychism that can unequivocally function as a spiritual standpoint. Analytical panpsychism has arisen in response to the problem of mind – the problem of how to explain the origins of mind in a material universe. Philosophical animists tend to distinguish their view from more metaphysically elaborated versions of panpsychism inasmuch as their goal is not to explain the world via appeal to metaphysical categories but to institute new protocols for being in the world. Ontopoetics is the performative face of panpsychism, and though it stands against an implied metaphysical backdrop, it is in no way obliged to choose amongst different versions of panpsychist metaphysics.