Conatus: THIRD EDITION by Tom Wallace - HTML preview

C O N A T U S

to the universe, believers can refer to God, but really, with pantheism, both are referring to the same thing. The non-believer may of course point out that referring to the universe as God falls once again into this problem of not really adding anything to our knowledge. If pantheism is true then it doesn’t have a lot of relevance — what is is just what is — and calling it God is just a preference and not a significant addition to our knowledge.

In terms of the flawed nature of the Many, pantheism also does not say much. The question of why God may have created — or had to create — an imperfect universe simply becomes, why does God seem to be imperfect. We are no further forward.

Panpsychism is the name given to the idea that the universe is conscious. But if the primary substance of the universe is consciousness, then it is difficult to conceive of this just appearing and immediately functioning sufficiently to allow a viable universe. The notion seems much more difficult than if the initial state of the universe were just dead matter. For this reason it is well to adopt the terms ‘form’ and ‘formlessness’ rather than ‘something’ and ‘nothing’, as these suggest an initial chaotic state from which everything could emerge. It seems more comfortable somehow to think of a conscious universe emerging from formlessness. And also, it avoids the ‘once only’ event that science often seems to need to kick-start the universe — there can be a constant flow between formlessness and form.

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