Metaphysics Matters: Towards Semiotic Causation

Abstract

The return of interest in panpsychism reflects a shift towards process metaphysics. To propose that qualia are present throughout nature is a radical break with the mechanistic worldview inherited from the nineteenth century. That break is much needed as it is becoming clear that the values implicit in that worldview have helped create a serious ecological crisis. Here, following Bohm and Peirce, an elaboration of process metaphysics is proposed based on a semiotic view of causation. This in turn, taken together with insights from biosemiotics, is used to propose a worldview of unbroken wholeness in which consciousness is ubiquitous and exists at scales well beyond the range of human experience. It is suggested that this will help to recover some of the ecological sensitivies found in prescientific traditions, which are lost in a purely mechanistic worldview.