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" What Does Philip Pullman's Panpsychism Imply? Freedom of Decision in His Dark Materials "
Akers, Sarah Eguia
Scott, Kevin M
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Latin Dissertation
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| Language of Document
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English
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| Record Number
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1114175
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| Doc. No
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TLpq2404394328
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| Main Entry
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Akers, Sarah Eguia
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Scott, Kevin M
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| Title & Author
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What Does Philip Pullman's Panpsychism Imply? Freedom of Decision in His Dark Materials\ Akers, Sarah EguiaScott, Kevin M
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| College
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The University of West Florida
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| Date
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2020
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| student score
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2020
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| Degree
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M.A.
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| Page No
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44
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| Abstract
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The philosopher Galen Strawson and the author Philip Pullman explore the point of view that entities such as human beings and subatomic particles have subjective experience. The former scholar explores this theory through philosophical argumentation, and the latter scholar explores it through writing two series of novels; however, while Strawson argues for the theory, Pullman shows the ethical implications of the theory by referring to its consequences in terms of interactions among his characters. These implications include freedom of decision in every entity and freedom of thought in every human or self-conscious creature. Each implication appears when the characters make their own decisions about how to view politics, religion, science, and ethics. In referring to these implications within the novels, I present a hypothetical dialogue between Strawson and Pullman. The importance of this dialogue concerns how far Pullman takes the theory in comparison to how far Strawson takes the theory, especially in terms of insisting on one’s moral responsibility, right to speculate, and need to connect with one’s environment. The existence of meaning becomes particularly important when considering the existence of meaning in the subatomic scale and human scale. This hypothetical dialogue shows need for meaning which the theory suggests.
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Dark matter
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Free will
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Imagination
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Panpsychism
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Pullman, Philip
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Strawson, Galen
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