1. The Theory of Natural Individuals The McDonald’s Version Gregg Rosenberg

2. The Theory of Natural Individuals The Theory of Causal Significance The Carrier Theory of Causation The Consciousness Hypothesis

3. Russell/Whitehead View Russell = Physics is structure Whitehead = “Vacuous” actuality is not possible Implies: Physical entities have intrinsic content not specified by physics

4. Questions raised The “combination” problem – How could intrinsic content exist at a middle level? Panexperientialism – When is intrinsic content experiential, and why? Other peculiar features – Unity – Correspondence to information structure – Subjective Instant

5. The Theory of Causal Significance Causal Significance = The constraint the occurrence of an event (or the presence of an individual) places on the possible ways the world could be. Nomic Content = The properties a thing has which contribute to its causal significance – Effective Properties – Receptive Properties

6. Nomic Content Basic tenet: Considered in themselves, effective and receptive properties each have an incomplete nature.

7. Nomic Content Considered in the themselves, each kind of property has an incomplete nature. Effective Properties = Determinable properties that contribute to constraints on the determinate states of a causal nexus. Receptive Properties = Connective properties facilitating the creation of causal nexii and enabling individuals to be sensitive to constraints on the nexii of which they are members.

8. Effective Properties Incomplete determinable properties – Multiple potential values Intrinsic relations of compatibility, inclusion, and exclusion

9. Receptive Properties Special properties whose instances can bind to more than one individual at a time. Binding creates a new individual to whom the receptivity belongs.

10. The Importance of Binding Determinable becomes more determinate Incomplete becomes more complete

11. Two Fundamental Causal Principles Determination indicates completeness. Individuals seek completeness.

12. The Traditional Taxonomy for Theories of Causation

13. Causal Responsibility Is Not Entirely Objective Negative facts (starving to death) Figure/ground relations (cue ball on the break)

14. Causal Responsibility Is Not General Enough Breaks down in rich feedback systems (Palestinian/Israeli dispute) Breaks down in quantum systems (EPR)

15. Receptive Connections are Causal Connections Each receptive connection makes the world more determinate by reducing the possible joint-states of the individuals bound to it. Receptive connections are operators on a space of possibility The receptive connection of each individual filters the possibilities for the joint-states of its members – Prior possible joint-states  posterior possible joint states – Posterior possible joint-states = x: x є power set of prior possible joint states

16. Definition of Natural Individual Base Case: Any basic effective or receptive property is a natural individual Inductive Case: Any set of natural individuals sharing a completed receptive connection is a natural individual.

17. General Parameters Of Causal Significance The arity of the relation (how many things related) The kinds of things related (events, facts, individuals) Symmetry (can we distinguish between cause and effect) Directionality Locality

18. The Generality of Causal Significance

19. The Hierarchy of Natural Individuals

20. Each Individual Possesses An Irreducible Receptive Connection

21. The levels of nature are strongly emergent, not merely constitutive

22. Causal Responsibility Across Levels of Nature Material Causation Final Causation Efficient Causation

23. The Theory of Causal Significance as meta-physics The theory evokes superposition and the measurement problem;

24. The Theory of Causal Significance as meta-physics The nature of causal significance is consistent with the existence of quantum coherence;

25. The Theory of Causal Significance as meta-physics The view makes non-local causation seem expected, rather than mysterious or unexpected;

26. The Theory of Causal Significance as meta-physics Nothing in the theory makes irreducible randomness a surprising feature of the world;

27. The Theory of Causal Significance as meta-physics The spacetime that we could perhaps construct from causal connections would clearly be relativistic;

28. The Theory of Causal Significance as meta-physics Like QM, the theory dilutes the special ontological importance of the microphysical (as pointed out by Lockwood);

29. The Theory of Causal Significance as meta-physics The theory’s realism about possibility is consistent with the ability of counterfactual truths to have measurable effects in the quantum world.

30. The Theory of Causal Significance as meta-physics Moral: if causation works the way the Theory of Natural Individuals says, then it is not surprising that our physics looks the way it does.

31. The Carrier Theory of Causation Something is a natural individual if, and only if, it is experiencing phenomenal individuals.

32. The Carrier Theory of Causation Effective properties are carried by phenomenal properties. Receptivity is carried by experiential properties.

33. The Carrier Theory of Causation The Causal Connection Itself Has A Special Kind of Intrinsic Content Complementary To The Physical

34. How the experiencing of phenomenal individuals fills the carrier role Nomic content (requirement on Carrier) 1. The possibility of being receptively bound is essential to effective properties. Phenomenal Property (feature of Carrier) 1. The possibility of being experienced is essential to phenomenal qualities.

35. How the experiencing of phenomenal individuals fills the carrier role Nomic content (requirement on Carrier) 2. Being a receptive individual implies receiving the constraint of effective properties. Phenomenal Property (feature of Carrier) 2.Being an experiencing subject implies the experiencing of phenomenal qualities.

36. How the experiencing of phenomenal individuals fills the carrier role Nomic content (requirement on Carrier) 3. Effective properties are only potential unless actually receptively bound. Phenomenal Property (feature of Carrier) 3. Phenomenal qualities are only potential unless actually being experienced.

37. How the experiencing of phenomenal individuals fills the carrier role Nomic content (requirement on Carrier) 4. A receptive connection is only potential unless it is binding effective properties. Phenomenal Property (feature of Carrier) 4. Experience is only potential unless it is experiencing phenomenal quality.

38. How the experiencing of phenomenal individuals fills the carrier role Nomic content (requirement on Carrier) 5. Effective properties are determinables. Phenomenal Property (feature of Carrier) 5. Phenomenal properties are determinables.

39. How the experiencing of phenomenal individuals fills the carrier role Nomic content (requirement on Carrier) 6. Pure receptive connections are a kind of contentless openness. Phenomenal Property (feature of Carrier) 6. Phenomenological reports of the “pure” experiencing subject reveal a kind of contentless openness within pure consciousness.

40. How the experiencing of phenomenal individuals fills the carrier role Nomic content (requirement on Carrier) 7. Relations of inclusion, exclusion, compatibility and incompatibility exist between effective properties. Phenomenal Property (feature of Carrier) 7. Relations of inclusion, exclusion, compatibility and incompatibility exist between phenomenal properties.

41. How the experiencing of phenomenal individuals fills the carrier role Nomic content (Requirement on Carrier) 8. Scalar relations and relations of stipulative difference exist between effective properties. Phenomenal Property (feature of Carrier) 8. Scalar relations and relations of intrinsic difference exist between phenomenal properties.

42. How the experiencing of phenomenal individuals fills the carrier role Nomic content (Requirement on Carrier) 9. Despite mutually participating in one another’s nature, effective properties and the receptivity binding of them mark distinct essences. Phenomenal Property (feature of Carrier) 9. Despite mutually participating in one another’s nature, phenomenal properties and the experiencing of them mark distinct essences.

43. How the experiencing of phenomenal individuals fills the carrier role Phenomenal Properties (Carriers) Nomic content (Carried) 1. The possibility of being experienced is essential to phenomenal qualities. 1. The possibility of being receptively bound is essential to effective properties. 2.Being an experiencing subject implies the experiencing of phenomenal qualities. 2. Being a receptive individual implies receiving the constraint of effective properties. 3. Phenomenal qualities are only potential unless actually being experienced. 3. Effective properties are only potential unless actually receptively bound. 4. Experience is only potential unless it is experiencing phenomenal quality. 4. A receptive connection is only potential unless it is binding effective properties.

44. 5. Phenomenal properties are determinables. 5. Effective properties are determinables. 6. Phenomenological reports of the “pure” experiencing subject reveal a kind of contentless openness within pure consciousness. 6. Pure receptive connections are a kind of contentless openness. 7. Relations of inclusion, exclusion, compatibility and incompatibility exist between phenomenal properties. 7. Relations of inclusion, exclusion, compatibility and incompatibility exist between effective properties. 8. Scalar relations and relations of intrinsic difference exist between phenomenal properties. 8. Scalar relations and relations of stipulative difference exist between effective properties. 9. Despite mutually participating in one another’s nature, phenomenal properties and the experiencing of them mark distinct essences. 9. Despite mutually participating in one another’s nature, effective properties and the receptive binding of them mark distinct essences.

46. The Consciousness Hypothesis Consciousness is the carrier of a cognitively structured, high-level individual.

47. The End