Principal Investigator: Professor Mark Wynn

Researcher Co-Investigator: Dr Khai Wager

The project. This 9-month research project marked an initial empirical exploratory study of non-religious conceptions of the divine or ultimate reality and their relation to accounts of the well-lived life. The project was formed of an anonymous online qualitative survey and in-depth semi-structured interviews with participants who identified as both 'spiritual' and 'non-religious'. The survey garnered over 400 responses, and interviews were conducted with 21 participants. The rich data collected will form the basis of upcoming philosophical research.

My role. I was Researcher Co-Investigator. For this project, I played a central role in devising the project, producing the funding application, and managing and conducting the research.

Funded by The Oxford University Press John Fell Fund.

Principal Investigator: Professor Mark Wynn

Postdoctoral Research Fellow: Dr Khai Wager

DPhil Student: Edward Chan Stroud

The Project: The project addressed these two questions: [Q1] In what ways can God-concepts deepen or otherwise inform our conception of the nature of spiritual wellbeing? [Q2] To what extent can God-concepts be assessed as more or less appropriate or adequate by reference to their implications for spiritual wellbeing? The project will involved both theoretical and empirical strands of enquiry, and the two core questions were addressed from both points of view. The theoretical strand considered the conceptual connections between various God-concepts and accounts of the nature of the well-lived life, and will identified different forms such connections may take. In so doing, it examined the ways in which a given God-concept may be assessed, not simply in evidential or abstractly metaphysical terms, but on account of its capacity to deepen the spiritual significance of human lives. The empirical strand of the study engaged with the social scientific literature on the relationship between God-concepts and wellbeing, and discussed the relationship between empirically informed and theologically grounded accounts of wellbeing. In this phase of the enquiry, interviews and the written work of figures of recognised spiritual authority were used to develop a new appreciation of the ways in which God-concepts can in practice guide processes of spiritual discernment, and thereby shape the everyday experience of those who use them. The empirical and theoretical phases of the study were mutually informing: for instance, the empirical phase enabled us to investigate the fruitfulness of various God-concepts in situations of practical choice and, in this way, to consider the productiveness of a given God-concept from both theoretical and applied points of view.

My role: I was the project's Postdoctroal Research Fellow, contributing to both its theoretical and empirical strands, but taking a more leading role in the project's empirical dimension.

Related outputs.

• Falling in Love Outward: Pantheism and Spiritual Well-Being (article: published)

• God Concepts and Spiritual Well-being (journal special issue: published)

• Two empirical articles drawn from a study of Christian spiritual directors (details omitted while under peer review)

Funded by The John Templeton Foundation.

Doctoral Researcher: Dr Khai Wager

Supervisor: Professor Yujin Nagasawa

PhD Project: The Following is the abstract for my PhD thesis: This collection of papers centres around a novel approach to the problem of phenomenal consciousness called cosmopsychism. A simple version of cosmopsychism says that the cosmos as a whole is conscious. In this collection, I focus on a comparison between arguably the most promising versions of cosmopsychism and panpsychism, called constitutive cosmopsychism and constitutive panpsychism, respectively. The first paper, ‘A Blueprint for Cosmopsychism’ offers a blueprint for a cosmopsychist approach, comparing it to the panpsychist approach. It highlights how following the blueprint allows one to sidestep the most serious of panpsychism’s problems, the combination problem, while also avoiding the problem of infinite decomposition. However, it notes that the approach must address a serious problem of its own in the derivation problem. The second paper, ‘Beyond Panpsychism and Cosmopsychism? Focuses’ on two related views that reject subjects of experience at the fundamental level, thus avoiding the subject aspects of the combination and derivation problems. Albahari’s perennialism is touted as the natural successor to cosmopsychism; avoiding its subject derivation problem while maintaining a cosmic consciousness. Meanwhile, Coleman’s panqualityism is touted as a natural successor to panpsychism; avoiding its combination problem while maintaining that phenomenality is present at the level of microphysical ultimates. However, I show both views seem to face problems equal in measure to those they seek to avoid. The third paper, ‘The Subject Problem for Panpsychism and Cosmopsychism’, targets the hardest problems f the subject comor constitutive panpsychism and bination problemconstitutive cos and the subjectmopsychism: derivation problem, respectively. I show that the two problems are almost identical, both hinging on the entailment of what I call synchronous perspectives scenarios. I formulate broad arguments from metaphysical impossibility and epistemic implausibility against both views, based on such scenarios. However, I provide a possible model of how to understand synchronous perspective scenarios unproblematically. I also provide several alternative responses. The fourth, and final, paper in the collection provides an account of, and motivation for, a version of cosmopsychism I call CRP cosmopsychism. This version of cosmopsychism is created on the priority cosmopsychism blueprint and has three further key commitments: simple panpsychism, priority monism and Russellian monism. The paper motivates each of these commitments both in isolation and in partnership, before responding to each of the derivation problems; the subject derivation problem, the quality derivation problem and the structure derivation problem. Furthermore, I argue that cosmopsychism should be preferred over panpsychism owing to considerations concerning internal relations.

My role: This was my PhD project. 

Related outputs

• PhD thesis (available via the link in the 'Publications' section above). 

• Panpsychism and Priority Cosmopsychism (with Yujin Nagasawa) (article: published. Available via link above)

• See my forthcoming book In Defence of Cosmopsychism for a more thorough and up-to-date treatment of cosmopsychism and panpsychism (details above).

Funded by A UK Arts and Humanities Research Council 3-Year Doctoral Studentship in Philosophy.