Panpsychism - in The History of Philosophy

In The History of Philosophy

The view of the world as a macrocosm in relation to the human microcosm was a staple theme in Greek philosophy. In that view it was natural to think about the world in anthropomorphic terms. The view passed into the Medieval period via Neoplatonism, and was shared by Leibniz, Schelling, Schopenhauer and many others.

Josiah Royce (1855–1916), the leading American absolute idealist, held to the panpsychist view, though he didn't necessarily attribute mental properties to the smallest constituents of mentalistic "systems".

The panpsychist doctrine has recently been making a comeback in the American philosophy of mind—for example, Christian de Quincey and Leo Stubenberg have each recently defended it. In the United Kingdom the case for panpsychism has been made by Galen Strawson. In the philosophy of mind, panpsychism is one possible solution to the so-called hard problem of consciousness. The doctrine has also been applied in the field of environmental philosophy through the work of Australian philosopher Freya Mathews.