What question did this study set out to answer?

The aim is to evaluate the classification of superpsychism as either cosmopsychism or physicalism.

February 12, 2026

Looking for the Soft Place Between a Rock and a Hard Place: Getting the Priority Right

Key Points

The aim is to evaluate the classification of superpsychism as either cosmopsychism or physicalism.
Analyzed the prototime interpretation presented by Schneider and Bailey.
Discussed objections to superpsychism in the context of metaphysics of consciousness.
Proposed neutral monism as a viable alternative.
Argued that superpsychism aligns with either cosmopsychism or physicalism.
Identified neutral monism as a theoretical soft place between the two.

Abstract

In a recent paper, Schneider and Bailey (this issue) argue for the view superpsychism by way of their ‘prototime interpretation’, which argues that entanglement occurs in an aspatial/prototemportal level from which, they argue, space-time and consciousness arise. In this essay, rather than arguing whether superpsychism/the prototime interpretation is correct or preferable to other views in the metaphysics of consciousness, I want to focus on the objection that superpsychism is either (1) a cosmopsychist view or (2) a physicalist view, something which the authors themselves discuss in the paper. I argue that superpsychism falls into either a version of cosmopsychism (a rock) or physicalism (a hard place) and should rather look for a soft place between the two (neutral monism).

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Looking for the Soft Place Between a Rock and a Hard Place: Getting the Priority Right

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