Date of Award

4-25-2025

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

Liberal Studies

College

College of Humanities and Fine Arts

First Advisor

Renee Smith

Second Advisor

Edward Perez

Third Advisor

Daniel C. Williams

Abstract

Questions of phenomenal consciousness have troubled intellectuals for millennia. Theologians, philosophers, and scientists continue to grapple with the problem of how our minds interact with our brains and bodies. From Anaxagoras and Aristotle, Augustine and Aquinas, Nagel and Goff, and Koch and Hameroff, the brightest among us have been unable to solve the riddle of how we are conscious, unique, self-aware thinking beings. Uniting our efforts by considering the reasoning of interdisciplinary scholars and integrating the thoughts of others with our own can only enhance our chances of success. This paper offers a pathway toward a multidisciplinary theory of consciousness by combining physicalism, pantheism, panpsychism, and Orchestrated Objective Reduction (Orch OR) in such a manner as to eliminate conflict. It traces thoughts about our nature from the Ancients to the modern era, identifying commonalities and rejecting ontological barriers. It further proposes that each discipline advances by rethinking its paradigmatic boundaries and opening our minds to the absurd.

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