A transformative idea of the world that seeks to bring truth and meaning to our lives

In my view, the philosopher-scientist Bernardo Kastrup is one of the most important thinkers of the moment on the crucial subject of the nature of consciousness — crucial because the way we understand consciousness and reality shapes our outlook on the world, and on life and existence generally.

In his latest and most commanding book to date, The Idea of the World: A multi-disciplinary argument for the mental nature of reality (Iff Books, UK £14.99 / US $22.95, March 2019), Kastrup consolidates and powers up his argument that, unlike that of physicalism or panpsychism, consciousness is causal and fundamental, that our reality arises from consciousness, is consciousness in effect, and not the other way round; that physical structures are circumscribed by consciousness, and not the other way round.

As Kastrup says, most theories of reality that contradict mainstream physicalism are dismissed as not rigorous or plausible enough. Of these, nearly all theories that claim consciousness to be the fundamental substrate of existence ‘are pooh-poohed as flaky New Age nonsense’.

So, with analytical and critical flair and rigour, on his mission to save us from the morass of ontological misinformation, he has produced an inspiring masterwork to counter such…