How Modern Science Got Consciousness Wrong From the Start | Philip Goff
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How did Galileo’s separation of mathematics and consciousness shape modern science?
I think the problem of consciousness was built into the way we design science, right? By the father of modern science, Galileo.
Can you talk about Galileo's error? Galileo wasn't simply separating the qualia from the mathematics for scientific reasons. So what did Galileo do? He took consciousness outside of the domain of science. I mean the universe is not a biological system, right? If consciousness for higher forms of biology is more developed than In say a bird compared to a human. How do you feel about the proposal that a computer system in that there is a form of consciousness flowing through the physical system, that if that system is complex enough, a higher form of consciousness can emerge?
Thanks, Craig. Um, looking forward to the conversation. Panpsychism is the view that consciousness goes all the way down to the fundamental building blocks of the physical universe. I mean, in in a way, you might see it as a continuation of a of a trend that's been going on for some time now. You know, at the start of the scientific revolution. We thought only we were conscious and animals were sort of unfeeling mechanisms. And then over time we've attributed consciousness to more and more animals, starting off with higher primates, other mammals. Only fairly recently, birds and fish are typically attributed consciousness. And then um maybe a couple of years ago now there was a Couple of hundred scientists signing a letter that they take insect and reptile consciousness seriously.
So panpsychists take this to its logical conclusion, holding that not only the simplest forms of life, but the molecules, atoms, subatomic particles making up life has its own very, very simple forms of consciousness. So So we are conscious creatures in a conscious universe. That's the basic idea. Can you talk about Galileo's error? What I'm most passionate about is that this is not just another scientific problem we haven't dealt with yet. You know, it's not just, oh, we need to do it a f a few more brain scans and we'll crack it. This is an utterly unique problem. And um I mean, and one way into this is I I I think the problem of consciousness was built into the the way we designed science, right? By the the father of modern science, Galileo, right?
He was we he was a great experimental scientist, but he was also a great philosopher. And it it was his philosophical innovations that really shaped the foundation. Of the scientific revolution. So so Galileo wanted science to be purely mathematical. Uh something we take for granted these days, but at the time it was it was a radical innovation. But Galileo had to do a little bit of philosophical work to make sense of that. Because the trouble is I mean One thing about consciousness, it's the only phenomenon that we have direct access to. Right? And that direct access Reveals to us something about its nature, you know, the the redness of a red experience, the smell of coffee, the taste of mint. Uh, we we have direct access to the the character of consciousness from the inside.
That's one one way which this is such a unique phenomenon. But Galileo appreciated. You can't capture these subjective qualities we directly encounter in our experience, the colours, the sounds, the smells, the tastes. You can't fully capture those in the purely quantitative language of mathematics. Okay? An equation can't capture that deep red you experience as you watch the setting sun. I mean, there are there are all sorts of things We can capture about the structure of say color experience in mathematical language. But, you know, to make the to make the example vivid, suppose you we have a blind from birth neuroscientist, right? You can s you can tell them anything you like, framed in the language of mathematics about the objective brain processes involved in colour experience.
That will never convey to them the redness of a red experience, what it's like to see red. So there's information here, information about the nature of consciousness that we have from the inside that you can't fully capture in a mathematical, purely quantitative language.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
How did Galileo’s separation of mathematics and consciousness shape modern science?
0:00–8:04
2
What is pan‑psychism and why do panpsychists think consciousness is fundamental?
8:04–15:34
3
How does the “combination problem” challenge the idea that simple particles build complex consciousness?
15:34–24:17
4
Why do panpsychists argue that consciousness is a basic property of reality, like mass or charge?
24:17–32:36
5
Can large language models ever be conscious according to the pan‑psychist framework?
32:36–40:44
6
What experimental evidence could reveal new causal dynamics linked to consciousness?
40:44–47:28
7
Why might natural selection have favored consciousness instead of pure behavior‑based mechanisms?
47:28–53:57
8
How could integrating quantum mechanics and consciousness help solve the hard problem?
53:57–1:01:12
Speakers
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