In Our Time: Panpsychism

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the idea that some kind of consciousness is present not just in human brains but throughout the universe, right down to cells or even electrons. This is panpsychism and its proponents argue it offers a compelling alternative to those who say people are nothing but matter, like machines, and to those who say people are both matter and something else that might be termed 'soul'. Critics argue panpsychism is implausible, an example of how not to approach this problem, yet interest in it has been growing in recent decades