Metaphysics & Mind

Theme Overview: Metaphysics & Mind

Being, Consciousness, and Reality

Metaphysics asks what ultimately exists. Philosophy of mind asks what it means to be aware of it.

"Is reality fundamentally material or mental?"

"Do we possess a unified self — or is identity constructed?"

"Can free will survive causal determinism?"

From classical debates on substance and essence to contemporary discussions on consciousness and neural correlates, this theme examines the deepest structure of existence and experience.

Central investigations include:

  • Idealism, materialism, and dualism
  • The problem of personal identity
  • The relationship between mind, brain, and soul

To ask what exists is to ask what it means to be.

Dialogues

The Illusion of Choice?

The Illusion of Choice?

When neuroscience maps the brain and finds no ghost in the machine, what becomes of freedom? A collision between Daniel Dennett's materialist theory of mind and Jean-Paul Sartre's radical existentialist freedom.

The Soul and the Self: Avicenna vs. Neuroscience

The Soul and the Self: Avicenna vs. Neuroscience

Ibn Sīnā's Floating Man thought experiment challenges the physicalist paradigms of modern neuroscience to define the true nature of the self.

Infographics

The Hard Problem of Consciousness

The Hard Problem of Consciousness

Science can explain how the brain processes information, integrates stimuli, and produces behaviour. But it cannot explain why any of this is accompanied by experience. A visual journey through Chalmers, Dennett, and Searle — and philosophy's most stubborn mystery.

Articles & Essays

Articles for this theme will appear here as they are added.