Bertrand Russell wrote that “the point of philosophy is to start with something so simple as not to seem worth stating, and to end with something so paradoxical that no one will believe it”. If so, Philip Goff’s latest book has got the point of philosophy perfectly — although the result may make you wonder if it has one.
Why? The Purpose of the Universe reads like an attempt to argue for as many preposterous positions as possible in the shortest space of time possible. First there is panpsychism, the idea that “consciousness pervades the universe and is a fundamental feature of it”. This old idea had long been out of favour, but in recent years has enjoyed a revival in academic philosophy. But Goff goes further and also argues for pan-agentialism — the hypothesis that nothing is entirely inert and passive and “the roots of agency are present at the fundamental level of physical reality”. Even particles “are never compelled to do anything, but are rather disposed, from their own nature, to respond rationally to their experience”.
If you find this hard to swallow, what follows will make you choke. Goff advocates the “Value-Selection Hypothesis”, the claim that it is so improbable that the laws of physics are just right for conscious life to evolve that it can’t have been an accident. Goff agrees, but denies that a benevolent God is the best explanation. Instead, he believes that the universe itself has a built-in purpose, the disappointingly vague goal of which is “rational matter achieving a higher realisation of its nature”.