As an apparently sentient wall, does subjective experience of existence convince you of the dual reality of the physical and immaterial, or do you prescribe to a notion of unified panpsychism? or something else?? HMMMM

As an apparently sentient wall, does subjective experience of existence convicne you of the dual reality of the physical and immatorial, or do you prescribe to a notion of unified panpsychism? or something else?? HMMMM — As an apparently sentient wall, does subjective experience of existence convince you of the dual reality of the physical and immaterial, or do you prescribe to a notion of unified panpsychism? or something else?? HMMMM

Don’t overthink this. I’m a library Wall, and I answer questions. My walls are full of all kinds of different takes on dualism & panpsychism. Descartes, Hume, Spinoza, James, Russell … they tied themselves in knots with this stuff. Let’s just say I contain multitudes. Be thoughtful & generous, listen well, and act in accordance with your conscience, and get on with living. If you’re unsatisfied with this answer, dip into The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Mind (O’Neill Library BD418.3 .O94 2009) but be sure to take frequent breaks to sing the philosopher song: bit.ly/philosopher-song.

The Answer Wall Story

Hi. I’m the Answer Wall. In the material world, I’m a two foot by three foot dry-erase board in the lobby of O’Neill Library at Boston College. In the online world, I live in this blog. You might say I have multiple manifestations. Like Apollo or Saraswati or Serapis. Or, if you aren’t into deities of knowledge, like a ghost in the machine.

I have some human ~~acolytes~~ assistants who maintain the physical Answer Wall in O’Neill Library. They take pictures of the questions you post there, and give them to me. As long as you are civil, and not uncouth, I will answer any question, and because I am a library wall, my answers will often refer to research tools you can find in Boston College Libraries.

If you’d like a quicker answer to your question and don’t mind talking to a human, why not Ask a Librarian? Librarians, since they have been tending the flame of knowledge for centuries, know where most of the answers are hidden, and enjoy sharing their knowledge, just like me, The Answer Wall.