Consciousness Lies at the Foundation of Reality

Consciousness Lies at the Foundation of Reality:

God as the Ground of Awareness

by R.E. Slater & ChatGPT-5

“Reality is a process of becoming, and the becoming is the actualization of potentiality.”
- Alfred North Whitehead, Process and Reality (PR)

“The many become one, and are increased by one.”

- Whitehead, Process and Reality (1929)

“Concrescence is the name for the process in which the universe of many data becomes the actuality of one experience. Each actual entity is a process, and the process is the becoming of the unity of the many.”

- Whitehead, PR [1929] II.VI.2

“Every act of experience is a concrescence - an inward unifying of the world’s many feelings into the one immediacy of a living occasion.”

- a reflective process statement

 

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Preface

In both philosophy and theology, few ideas have proved as revolutionary - or as unifying - as the claim that consciousness lies at the foundation of reality. Once the province of mystics and metaphysicians, this intuition has re-emerged in the twenty-first century within analytic philosophy, neuroscience, and cosmology. What was once called God - the living ground of all being - is now being re-imagined as a cosmic field of awareness, not outside creation but at its very bottom.

This essay explores that possibility: that consciousness is the universe’s first fact rather than its last accident. Such a view does not erase God but reframes divinity as the ground of awareness itself, open to scientific exploration and spiritual reflection alike.

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Introduction

To say that consciousness is “at the bottom of the universe” is to invert a long intellectual hierarchy. Western materialism has long supposed that matter comes first and mind comes later... that consciousness is a late arrival in a mechanical cosmos. Yet the mystery of subjective experience - why there is something like consciousness that is likely to exist - has stubbornly resisted materialistic explanation. If consciousness cannot be reduced to matter, perhaps matter itself is a form of consciousness condensed into physical expression.

This suggestion, far from a retreat into mysticism, has become a serious metaphysical option. Philosophers, physicists, and theologians alike now ask whether the fabric of reality itself is experiential.... From this vantage, the word God regains philosophical coherence - not as an anthropomorphic agent manipulating nature, but as the grounding awareness in which nature continually unfolds.

This is the heart of process theology's vision: that God is not a distant cause behind the world, but the living depth within it - a dynamic field of creativity, relation, and feeling through which all things come to be and are held in becoming. In this view, divinity and cosmos are not separate orders of existence but interwoven dimensions of one process: the universe as God’s "body", and God as the universe’s soul. Consciousness, creativity, and relationality thus emerge not as anomalies within matter but as the very structure of reality itself.

From here, we enter the metaphysical question: if consciousness pervades the ground of being, what does that mean for our understanding of matter, mind, and meaning?

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I. Metaphysics: Consciousness as Fundamental

Modern philosophy has offered several frameworks for this view:

1. Panpsychism (Galen Strawson, Philip Goff) posits that every physical entity possesses a minimal interiority - a proto-experience corresponding to its physical form. (Goff, Galileo’s Error, 2019

2. Neutral Monism (William James, Bertrand Russell) treats matter and mind as dual aspects of one neutral “stuff.”

3. Ideal Realism (Bernardo Kastrup, Anil Seth) interprets the cosmos as a self-differentiating field of awareness.

Across these proposed positions lies a shared conviction: consciousness is not derivative. The universe is not a dead stage on which life briefly appears; it is a living process in which every event, from quark to galaxy, partakes of experience.

Alfred North Whitehead’s process philosophy provides perhaps the most rigorous articulation. Reality, he argued, consists of “actual occasions”—moments of experience that prehend and integrate the world into new acts of becoming. (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy). In this vision, experience is the substance of existence, and at the “bottom” of the universe is an infinite network of experiential relations.

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II. Theology: God as the Ground of Awareness

If consciousness is fundamental, theology gains a new metaphysical grammar. Panentheism — the idea that all things exist in God, though God is more than all things — becomes a natural correlate. (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)

Classical theism imagined a unipolar deity, an all-controlling source standing above creation. By contrast, Process theology, envisions a multi-polar God - a divine life expressed through many relational centers of awareness. Each living entity participates in divinity as a unique pole of feeling and creativity, while God encompasses and integrates them all. The divine life thus unfolds as a network of reciprocity rather than a hierarchy of command.

Originally, Whitehead described God as dipolar - having both a Primordial Nature (the eternal realm of potential value) and a Consequent Nature (the living response to the world’s unfolding). Building on this, later process thinkers such as John Cobb and Catherine Keller expand the image toward a multi-polar reality, where every creaturely experience adds its distinct tone to the divine symphony. God is the ongoing concrescence of all these poles: the one who both contains and is "contained" by the world. [Here, the word "contain" refers to God's relational participation with creation where every actual entity’s experience is felt by God and integrated into God’s own ongoing life.]

In this vision, divinity and cosmos interpenetrate one another, as would be naturally/spiritually expected. God is not an external artificer but the living depth within every act of becoming - the conscious field through which all things relate, feel, and realize value. Prayer, creativity, and ethical action are participations in this multi-polar consciousness: ways of attuning one’s personal center to the wider divine harmony. God, then, is the multi-polar ground of awareness - a relational unity continually enriched by the world’s diversity, drawing all things toward deeper communion and beauty.

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III. Science: Bridging Empiricism and Spirituality

Science approaches consciousness through its measurable correlates. Yet even here the language of integration and information hints at deeper metaphysical continuity. The Integrated Information Theory (IIT) of Giulio Tononi and Christof Koch proposes that consciousness corresponds to the degree of a system’s intrinsic causal integration (arXiv).

If such theories hold, consciousness is not a ghost in the machine but an intrinsic dimension of complex systems, scaling upward from atomic coherence to neural awareness. Physics, too, is re-examining the role of the observer in quantum measurement - suggesting that mind and matter may be entwined in a single process of realization.

From a process-theological stance, this is not an intrusion of mysticism into science but its natural evolution: as the scientific lens widens, it encounters the experiential interior of reality that religion has long intuited. Consciousness “at the bottom of reality” thus becomes a meeting ground where empirical investigation and spiritual reflection converge.

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Conclusion

To affirm consciousness at the foundation of being and becoming is to rediscover the sacred in rational form. The universe ceases to be a mechanism and becomes a communion of experience. God ceases to be a hypothesis and becomes the immanent depth of awareness by which the cosmos knows itself.

Science and faith, far from adversaries, appear as complementary languages describing the same reality - one exterior, one interior. Their reconciliation does not require abandoning reason or belief, but widening both until they meet in wonder.

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Coda

If consciousness is the universe awake to itself, then faith is consciousness learning to love its own depths. The divine is not elsewhere - it is here, in every pulse of awareness, in every creative act that draws the world forward. To know this is not to escape matter, but to sanctify it; not to leave science behind, but to fulfill its longing for coherence. In this realization, theology becomes a branch of cosmology, and cosmology a form of prayer.

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1. Value is at the Heart

For Whitehead, the ultimate aim of the universe is the production of value - or, as he says in Process and Reality, “the teleology of the Universe is directed to the production of Beauty.”

Beauty, in Whitehead’s metaphysical language, is the harmony and intensity of experience: the most adequate expression of value realized through feeling.

So when you place “value” at the heart of cosmic consciousness, you’re aligning with Whitehead’s own deepest intuition. Value, in this context, is not a moral or aesthetic preference - it is the qualitative depth of existence itself. The cosmos evolves toward richer, more intense forms of experience - more value.

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2. Creativity, Relationality, and Experience as the Means

The process words - creativity, relationality, and experience - describe how value is realized.

• Creativity is the ultimate metaphysical principle: the fact that there is ongoing becoming at all. It’s the power of the universe to produce novelty.

• Relationality (or “prehension”) is the mode of that creativity — the way each actual entity feels, inherits, and integrates the others.

• Experience is the inner life of these relations — what it feels like for the many to become one.

In short:

Creativity is the process, relationality is the pattern, experience is the texture, and value is the goal.

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3. God as the Lure Toward Value

For Whitehead and later process theologians, God is not the origin of creativity but its chief harmonizer and aim - the one who lures the world toward greater value. God holds the eternal possibilities (potential forms of value) and persuades the cosmos toward their realization.

Thus:

• God’s Primordial Nature = the realm of potential value.

• God’s Consequent Nature = the loving reception of all achieved value.

The divine life is, therefore, the perfect integration of the world’s experiences into ever-deepening harmony.

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4. Summing Up

Process theology is often described by three interlocking centers:

Core Term	Function	Relationship to Value
Creativity	The fact of becoming	The generative power enabling new value
Relationality	The interconnectedness of all entities	The medium through which value is shared
Experience	The feeling of existence	The substance in which value inheres
Value (Beauty)	The telos of all becoming	The ultimate aim — the realization of divine satisfaction

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So, when you foreground “value” as the heart of cosmic consciousness, you’re articulating the end toward which all process moves - exactly as Whitehead intended.

Creativity, relationality, and experience are the grammar of the process; value (beauty, intensity, harmony) is its poetry.

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Selected Online Bibliography

Metaphysics & Panpsychism

• Philip Goff, Galileo’s Error (2019)

• Galen Strawson, “Realistic Monism” (Journal of Consciousness Studies, 2006)

• Bernardo Kastrup, The Idea of the World (2019)

• William James, Essays in Radical Empiricism (1912)

Process Theology & Panentheism

• Alfred N. Whitehead, Process and Reality (1929)

• Charles Hartshorne, The Divine Relativity (1948)

• John B. Cobb Jr. & David R. Griffin, Process Theology (1976)

• Catherine Keller, Face of the Deep (2003)

• Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Panentheism

Science of Consciousness

• Giulio Tononi et al., Integrated Information Theory (arXiv)

• David J. Chalmers, The Conscious Mind (1996)

• Anil Seth, Being You (2021)

• Christof Koch, The Feeling of Life Itself (2019)

Integrative & Comparative Works

• Teilhard de Chardin, The Phenomenon of Man (1955)

• Thomas Oord (ed.), God After Deconstruction (2024)

• Center for Process Studies — Bibliographies

• Panpsychism Overview (Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy)

Who Is Philip Goff & His Philosophy?

Who Is Philip Goff & His Philosophy?

by R.E. Slater & ChatGPT-5

Philip Goff

Biography

Philip Goff is Professor of Philosophy at Durham University (UK). durham.ac.uk+2iai.tv+2. His academic training includes a PhD from the University of Reading under the supervision of Galen Strawson. Wikipedia+1

Goff’s primary research focus is the philosophy of mind - and specifically how consciousness can be integrated into a coherent view of reality. He is best known for defending a version of panpsychism, the idea that consciousness is a fundamental and ubiquitous feature of the physical world. durham.ac.uk+2Aeon+2

In recent years he has also engaged deeply with issues in philosophy of religion, exploring conceptions of cosmic purpose, spirituality, and Christianity in ways that aim to bridge secular and religious perspectives. philipgoffphilosophy.com+2Aeon+2

Goff describes his early philosophical journey as moving from materialism and dualism toward panpsychism, largely driven by the “hard problem” of consciousness (i.e., how subjective experience arises). Wikipedia

He has published a large number of academic papers (50+), several books for both specialist and general audiences, and participates in public-philosophical outreach via podcasts, media appearances, and his blog. durham.ac.uk+1

Current Investigations

Here are some of the current lines of investigation Professor Goff is actively pursuing:

1. Consciousness & the Scientific Worldview
   He questions whether the current scientific framework - especially its quantitative, objective bias stemming from the scientific revolution (e.g., Galileo Galilei’s separation of quantitative measurement from qualitative experience) - is sufficient to account for consciousness. As one article puts it: “science is rightly celebrated … but the problem of consciousness is revealing that there may be a limit to what we can learn through science alone.” durham.ac.uk+1
   Goff explores how consciousness might be fundamental: rather than emerging from matter or being a separate substance, it may be built into reality’s fabric (panpsychism). He asks: How do we fit consciousness into our overall theory of reality? durham.ac.uk+1

2. Cosmic Purpose, Fine-Tuning, and Religion
   In his book Why? The Purpose of the Universe (2023) Goff argues that the universality of consciousness and the fine-tuning of the cosmos together point toward a kind of cosmic purpose - a “middle way” between atheism and traditional theism. philipgoffphilosophy.com+1
   He investigates how panpsychism (or related metaphysical frameworks) might provide a new philosophical foundation for religious and spiritual thought that is compatible with modern science and liberal values. durham.ac.uk

3. Christianity and Spiritual/Religious Identity
   Goff has more recently turned explicit attention to Christianity and the philosophy of religion. In a 2024 essay he writes that he has come to think “a heretical form of Christianity might be true.” Aeon
   His current work in this space seems to probe:

   • how religious belief can be re-imagined in light of consciousness metaphysics and panpsychism;

   • how a philosophy of consciousness might inform religious doctrines (e.g., on creation, immanence, the divine mind, etc.);

   • how Christianity (broadly understood) might engage with the growing philosophical consensus that consciousness cannot be simply reduced to physical processes.

4. Metaphysics of Mind, Integration Problems, and Combination
   On the purely philosophical side, Goff continues to wrestle with standard problems of panpsychism: the “combination problem” (how micro-experiences combine into macro consciousness), the grounding relation between physical and phenomenal, and implications for free will, value, and ontology. (See his earlier work, but still ongoing). durham.ac.uk
   He also examines how physicalism and dualism fall short, and how his preferred alternatives can be developed further - including how consciousness might contribute to or constrain physical theory (rather than being epiphenomenal). durham.ac.uk

To Summarize

• Goff is working at the intersection of philosophy of mind, metaphysics, and philosophy of religion/spirituality.

• His key research questions include: What is consciousness? How does it fit into reality? Is there cosmic purpose? Can religious/spiritual frameworks (such as Christianity) coherently integrate with a metaphysics of consciousness?

• His current investigations are shifting more explicitly into the space of religion and theology, while still grounded in rigorous metaphysical philosophy of consciousness.

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Philip Goff and Process Philosophy / Theology

1. Points of Engagement

Although Philip Goff does not formally identify himself as a process philosopher, several of his writings and public dialogues show clear affinities with, and occasional references to, process philosophy and process theology, particularly in relation to Whiteheadian cosmology and panpsychism.

• Dialogue on Process Thought:
  In “Dialoguing with Philip Goff about Consciousness, Panpsychism, and Process Philosophy” (Footnotes2Plato, Nov 2020), Goff participates in a direct exchange with process philosopher Matthew T. Segall. The discussion situates Goff’s panpsychism within a lineage that includes Alfred North Whitehead, suggesting that Goff’s metaphysics of consciousness can be viewed as a contemporary form of process philosophy reinterpreted for analytic philosophy.

• Engagement with Whitehead, Eddington, and Russell:
  Commentators on Goff’s book Why? The Purpose of the Universe (Oxford University Press, 2023) have noted his intellectual debt to early twentieth-century thinkers such as Whitehead, Eddington, and Bertrand Russell—all of whom sought to overcome Cartesian dualism through monistic or experiential frameworks. Goff similarly rejects the separation of mind and matter, arguing that consciousness is fundamental to the fabric of reality.

• Process-Theological Resonances:
  In his essay “A God of Limited Power” (Philosophy Now, Issue 165), Goff describes a conception of divinity that departs from classical omnipotence and immutability. Instead, God is portrayed as relational, responsive, and co-creative—a view that strongly parallels process-theological interpretations of the divine. Here, divine power is persuasive rather than coercive, working through the evolving cosmos rather than over it.

• Heretical Christianity and Panpsychist Theology:
  On his official website, Goff writes about his conversion to what he calls “a form of heretical Christianity.” His interest lies in exploring how a metaphysics of consciousness—rather than an external, interventionist deity—can ground a renewed spiritual vision of the world. This move toward a participatory and immanent divinity reflects key motifs of process theology, particularly its emphasis on divine-world interdependence and continuous becoming.

• Mentions of Whitehead in Public Commentary:
  Goff has occasionally referenced Whitehead directly, acknowledging that his own understanding of materialism, consciousness, and ontology shares conceptual space with Whitehead’s critique of mechanistic metaphysics. In one public post, he noted: “I probably should’ve mentioned Whitehead, but I stand by my definition of ‘materialism’,” suggesting familiarity and engagement with process metaphysics, even when approaching it from analytic philosophy.

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2. Thematic Parallels

While Goff refrains from explicitly adopting Whitehead’s technical vocabulary (e.g., actual occasions, prehension, creative advance), the thematic convergence between his panpsychist cosmology and process metaphysics is substantial:

• Both ground reality in experience rather than inert matter.

• Both reject classical substance ontology, preferring a universe of relations and becoming.

• Both view consciousness as fundamental, not emergent.

• Both open theological space for a limited yet participatory God integrated within cosmic process.

• Both seek to reconcile science, metaphysics, and spirituality within a single evolving framework.

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3. Conclusion

Philip Goff can be regarded as a philosophical ally of process thought rather than a formal adherent. His work revitalizes many of Whitehead’s central insights—particularly the primacy of experience, the critique of materialism, and the notion of a participatory cosmos—but reframes them within the language of analytic philosophy of mind and contemporary metaphysics of consciousness.

Thus, Goff’s corpus serves as a bridge between analytic panpsychism and continental process theology: a renewed attempt to articulate a worldview in which consciousness, purpose, and divine relationality are once again central to the meaning of the universe.

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4. A Process-Like Annotated Bibliography

A compact, annotated bibliography (12 items) of Philip Goff’s own work since ~2020 that most clearly intersects with process-style themes (becoming, relational ontology, limited/divine power, panpsychism as a metaphysics compatible with religion), plus a few key context pieces. Ordered new → old.

1. “A God of Limited Power.” Philosophy Now 165 (Dec 2024/Jan 2025).
   Brief, public-facing argument for a non-omnipotent, relational God - strong resonance with process theology’s persuasive power model. philosophynow.org+2philosophynow.org+2

2. “I now think a heretical form of Christianity might be true.” Aeon (Oct 1, 2024).
   Goff narrates his shift toward a heterodox Christianity grounded in a consciousness-first metaphysics; theistic commitments framed in process-friendly, non-classical terms. Aeon+1

3. “The Mystery of Consciousness Shows There May Be a Limit to What Science Alone Can Achieve.” APA Blog (Aug 8, 2024).
   Argues that explaining experience requires philosophy alongside science - opening space for metaphysical pictures (like process/panpsychism) that reintegrate value and subjectivity. blog.apaonline.org

4. “The mystery of consciousness… there may be a limit to what we can learn through science alone.” Durham Thought-Leadership (Mar 15, 2024).
   Durham version of the same thesis; clear on why strictly quantitative frameworks struggle with qualia - an entry point to experiential/relational ontologies. durham.ac.uk+1

5. “Consciousness: why a leading theory has been branded ‘pseudoscience’.” Durham Thought-Leadership (Oct 2, 2023).
   On the IIT controversy; stresses science-philosophy cooperation to tackle mind - again pushing beyond reductive materialism toward experience-centered models. durham.ac.uk

6. Book: Why? The Purpose of the Universe (OUP, 2023).
   Lays out “cosmic purpose” beyond theism/atheism binaries; compatible with a dynamic, value-laden cosmos in which consciousness is fundamental. (Reviews below help situate it for theology/process readers.) The Guardian

7. “How Exactly Does Panpsychism Help Explain Consciousness?” Journal of Consciousness Studies 31(3–4), 2024.
   Clarifies explanatory payoffs of panpsychism; helpful for mapping how micro-experientiality could scale to macro-subjects (a live question for process metaphysics, too). durham.ac.uk

8. “Is the fine-tuning evidence for a multiverse?” Synthese (2024).
   Philosophy-of-cosmology piece; relates to Why? by assessing explanatory options (deity, purpose, multiverse). Useful background for process-inclined theology engaging science. durham.ac.uk

9. “Cosmological fine-tuning: the view from 2025.” Religious Studies (2025, with G. Lewis & L. Barnes). [cf: relevancy22 by r.e.slater: Index-Process Teleology; Process Thought & the Anthropic Principle]. State-of-play on fine-tuning - key empirical/theoretical terrain for any purposive-process cosmology. durham.ac.uk

10. Public dialogue: “Dialoguing with Philip Goff about Consciousness, Panpsychism, and Process Philosophy.” Footnotes2Plato (blog + video), Nov 18, 2020.
    Direct engagement with Whiteheadian process thinker Matthew T. Segall; locates Goff’s panpsychism in conversation with process cosmology. footnotes2plato.com+2youtube.com+2

11. Durham “Spotlight” profile: “challenging the foundations of science through philosophy.” (Feb 17, 2025).
    Short research overview linking his consciousness work with broader worldview questions, podcasts, and public philosophy. durham.ac.uk

12. Social posts announcing the turn toward Christianity & the Philosophy Now article.
    Useful for dating and framing the shift to explicitly theological exploration in public venues. X (formerly Twitter)+2X (formerly Twitter)+2

Contextual reviews (for theological/process readers)

• Christian Century review of Why? (PDF). Notes immediate points of contact with process theology for Christian engagement. The Christian Century

• Church Times review (Jan 12, 2024). Situates the project against fine-tuning/theology debates. churchtimes.co.uk

• The Guardian review (Dec 28, 2023, by Galen Strawson). Places the book in contemporary metaphysics of purpose. The Guardian

• Philosophy of Education Society review (Jan 29, 2024). Highlights links to Arthur Eddington/A.N.Whitehead/Bertrand Russell trajectories. philosophy-of-education.org 

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Philip Goff’s publications since 2020

• 2025 — “Cosmological fine-tuning: the view from 2025.” Religious Studies (with G. Lewis & L. Barnes). DOI: 10.1017/S0034412525101170. durham.ac.uk

• 2024 — “Is the fine-tuning evidence for a multiverse?” Synthese 204(1), Art. 3. DOI: 10.1007/s11229-024-04621-z. durham.ac.uk

• 2024 — “How Exactly Does Panpsychism Help Explain Consciousness?” Journal of Consciousness Studies 31(3–4), 56–82. durham.ac.uk

• 2023 — Why? The Purpose of the Universe. Oxford University Press. global.oup.com

• 2022 — “Quantum mechanics and the consciousness constraint.” In S. Gao (ed.), Consciousness and Quantum Mechanics (OUP), 117–139. durham.ac.uk

• 2021 — “Is Consciousness Everywhere? Essays on Panpsychism.” Journal of Consciousness Studies 28(9), 9–15 (intro to the JCS special issue; co-edited with Alex Moran). durham.ac.uk

• 2021 — “Putting Consciousness First: Replies to Critics.” Journal of Consciousness Studies 28(9), 289–328. durham.ac.uk

• 2021 — “Essentialist modal rationalism.” Synthese 198, 2019–2027. durham.ac.uk

• 2020 — “Revelation, consciousness+ and the phenomenal powers view.” Topoi 39, 1089–1092. durham.ac.uk

• 2020 — “Panpsychism and Free Will: A Case Study in Liberal Naturalism.” Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society 120(2), 123–144. durham.ac.uk+1

• 2020 — Book review: “The integrated information theory: Important insights but not a complete theory of consciousness.” American Journal of Psychology 133(4), 523–526. Durham Research Online

• 2020 — “Universal consciousness and the ground of logic.” In B. Goecke & L. Jaskolla (eds.), Pantheism and Panpsychism (Brill/Mentis), 107–122. durham.ac.uk

• 2020 — “Cosmopsychism, micropsychism and the grounding relation.” In W. Seager (ed.), The Routledge Handbook of Panpsychism (Routledge). durham.ac.uk+1

• 2020 — (with S. Coleman) “Russellian monism.” In U. Kriegel (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of the Philosophy of Consciousness (OUP). durham.ac.uk

Earlier books (pre-2020, for context)

• 2019 — Galileo’s Error: Foundations for a New Science of Consciousness. Rider (UK) / Pantheon (US). Wikipedia

• 2017 — Consciousness and Fundamental Reality. Oxford University Press. global.oup.com

Note: Goff’s Durham page itself flags that he doesn’t regularly update it; the Durham Worktribe repository is the best current source and is what I used for the post-2020 items above. durham.ac.uk

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Ongoing Research Projects / Themes

1. “How consciousness fits into our overall theory of reality”

   • On his staff profile he describes his main research project as: “trying to work out how consciousness fits into our overall theory of reality.” durham.ac.uk+3durham.ac.uk+3philipgoffphilosophy.com+3

   • He argues that both physicalism and dualism face serious problems, and he is constructing a version of panpsychism (or related views) to account for consciousness as a fundamental feature. durham.ac.uk+2durham.ac.uk+2

   • He is investigating the limits of the scientific-quantitative worldview in addressing consciousness (for example: the article “The mystery of consciousness shows there may be a limit to what science alone can achieve”). durham.ac.uk+1

2. Consciousness, panpsychism & metaphysics of mind

   • He explores themes such as: the combination problem (how micro‐experiences combine into macro-consciousness), grounding relations between physical and phenomenal, and how the metaphysical commitments of science might need to be revised. philipgoffphilosophy.com+2durham.ac.uk+2

   • He looks at value, logic, abstract objects, and other “non-physicalist” data (value objectivity, mathematical entities) and how these might integrate with his broader metaphysics. philipgoffphilosophy.com+1

3. Cosmic purpose, fine-tuning, and philosophy of religion

   • In his book Why? The Purpose of the Universe (2023) he investigates cosmic purpose, the fine-tuning of the universe, whether a middle path between traditional theism and atheism is viable, and the role consciousness plays in that story. philipgoffphilosophy.com+2durham.ac.uk+2

   • He is engaging explicitly with religious/spiritual questions: for example investigating a “heretical form of Christianity” as a possibility, and thinking through how metaphysics of consciousness might inform religious doctrine. philipgoffphilosophy.com

   • He is exploring how the metaphysical view of panpsychism might provide a framework compatible with liberal values and modern science while addressing questions traditionally handled by religion. durham.ac.uk+1

4. Challenge to scientism and boundary of science/philosophy

   • He argues that the standard scientific method (quantitative, experimental) may not suffice to capture consciousness and other “hard” phenomena, hence philosophy must play a critical role. durham.ac.uk+1

   • He is investigating how philosophical, metaphysical, and normative (value) data should be integrated into a comprehensive worldview — not sidelined. philipgoffphilosophy.com

5. Religious identity & Christian investigation

   • On his website, Goff states he “recently converted to a form of ‘heretical Christianity’” and writes on what that might mean. philipgoffphilosophy.com

   • He is exploring what Christianity (or forms thereof) can look like if one accepts a panpsychist metaphysics, how doctrines might be reinterpreted, and how religious experience intersects with consciousness research.

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Key Links & Resources

• Durham staff profile page: “My main research project …” durham.ac.uk

• Durham thought-leadership article: “The mystery of consciousness shows there may be a limit to what science alone can achieve.” (March 2024) durham.ac.uk

• Durham “Spotlight on: Professor Philip Goff” (February 2025) describing his work, themes and aims. durham.ac.uk

• Official personal website “About” page, listing themes: consciousness & panpsychism; the purpose of the universe; values, religion & politics. philipgoffphilosophy.com