Philip Goff is a British author, panpsychist philosopher, and professor at Durham University whose research focuses on philosophy of mind and consciousness. Goff is also the co-host of the podcast Mind Chat. He blogs on Substack, and his work has been published in The Guardian, Aeon and Scientific American, among others.

Goff’s main research project explores how consciousness fits into our overall theory of reality. He argues that both physicalism—the idea that consciousness can be explained in terms of physical processes in the brain—and dualism—the view that consciousness is separate from the body and brain—face insuperable difficulties. Based on this, he defends a form of panpsychism, the view that consciousness is a fundamental and ubiquitous feature of the physical world. While this may seem radical, he aims to show that it avoids the difficulties faced by its rivals.

In his recent book, Why? The Purpose of the Universe (Oxford University Press, 2023), he examines whether panpsychism offers a middle ground between traditional belief in God and secular atheism. He has also written Galileo’s Error: Foundations for a New Science of Consciousness (Rider in the UK, Pantheon in the US, 2019), a general-audience introduction to panpsychism, as well as Consciousness and Fundamental Reality (Oxford University Press, 2017), a more academic exploration of the topic. Additionally, he co-edited Is Consciousness Everywhere? Essays on Panpsychism, a collection of responses to his work by scientists—including Carlo Rovelli, Sean Carroll, Lee Smolin, Annaka Harris, Christof Koch, and Anil Seth—alongside philosophers and spiritual thinkers.