Philip Goff

He says he grew up in Liverpool and studied for his undergraduate degree at the University of Leeds; while later teaching English in Poland he came across an article on panpsychism by Thomas Nagel and decided to return to university to study the theory.⁠[1]

He received his PhD from the University of Reading, studying under Galen Strawson, and then did postdoctoral work at the Centre for Consciousness at the Australian National University.⁠[2]

In 2009 he published “Can the panpsychist get round the combination problem?” in The Mind that Abides, edited by David Skrbina, and in 2011 he edited Spinoza on Monism.⁠[3]

He was later an associate professor of philosophy at Central European University in Budapest.⁠[4]

In 2017 Oxford UniversityUniversity of OxfordThe University of Oxford is a university in Oxford, England, where teaching existed in some form by 1096; it describes itself as the oldest university in the English-speaking world and is organised as a federal system of the university and dozens of self-governing colleges.Open the full entry Press published his academic monograph Consciousness and Fundamental Reality: its first half argues that physicalism cannot account for consciousness, and its second half develops a Russell-inspired “Russellian monism,” on which the hidden intrinsic nature of matter explains human and animal consciousness.⁠[5]

On November 4, 2019, physicist Sean CarrollSean CarrollSean Carroll (Sean M. Carroll) is an American theoretical physicist and science writer who is Homewood Professor of Natural Philosophy at Johns Hopkins University and Fractal Faculty at the Santa Fe Institute; he works on cosmology, gravitation, the foundations of quantum mechanics and complexity, has written books including From Eternity to Here and Something Deeply Hidden, and hosts the Mindscape podcast.Open the full entry’s podcast Mindscape released a conversation with him; Carroll, describing himself as a physicalist who sees consciousness as an emergent aspect of matter obeying the laws of physics, said he was against panpsychism and called Goff one of its foremost modern advocates.⁠[6]

On November 5, 2019, Pantheon published in the United States his general-audience book Galileo’s Error: Foundations for a New Science of Consciousness; the publisher describes it as building on the early twentieth-century work of Arthur Eddington and Bertrand Russell to argue that consciousness is a fundamental feature of all physical matter, from subatomic particles to the human brain.⁠[7]

In January 2020 Times Higher EducationTimes Higher EducationTimes Higher Education (THE) is a London-based higher education news and data company. It grew out of the Times Higher Education Supplement, launched in 1971, and is best known for its World University Rankings, founded in 2004; it has been owned by the private equity firm Inflexion since 2019.Open the full entry made the book its book of the week; reviewer Jane O’Grady called it a brilliant introduction but argued that panpsychism leaves the intentionality of thought unexplained.⁠[1]

On January 14, Scientific American published Gareth Cook’s interview with him, in which he explained that panpsychism does not hold that literally everything is conscious, but that fundamental constituents such as electrons and quarks have incredibly simple forms of experience, consciousness being the intrinsic nature of matter.⁠[8]

The collection Is Consciousness Everywhere? Essays on Panpsychism, originally a special issue of the Journal of Consciousness Studies, takes his writings as a jumping-off point to discuss panpsychism from scientific, philosophical and theological perspectives, with some papers developing the view and others posing challenges to it.⁠[2]

He appeared on episode 261 of the Lex FridmanLex FridmanLex Fridman is a Soviet-born, US-raised computer scientist and podcast host who works as an MIT research scientist on human-AI interaction and autonomous driving. His Lex Fridman Podcast is known for hours-long conversations with guests including heads of state and technology leaders.Open the full entry Podcast, whose description calls him a philosopher of mind and consciousness at Durham University and author of Galileo’s Error; topics included conscious matter, death and mystical experiences, the authority of expertise, panpsychism and physics, zombies, free will and the simulation hypothesis.⁠[9]

In 2023 Oxford University Press published his Why? The Purpose of the Universe. He says he does not believe in an all-knowing, all-powerful and perfectly good God because of the amount of suffering in the universe, but holds that the fine-tuning of physics for life and “psycho-physical harmony” are things traditional atheists cannot explain, and so argues that the universe has a purpose.⁠[10]

Reviewing the book in 2025, ISCAST Fellow Samuel McKee summarized it as reasoning from fine-tuning and consciousness to cosmic purpose, judging an all-powerful God unlikely because of suffering and settling on a “Limited Designer”; he expected the conclusion to satisfy neither side.⁠[11]

On September 29, 2023, writing in The Conversation about a letter from more than 100 consciousness researchers branding integrated information theory (IIT) pseudoscience, he argued that consciousness is not merely a scientific issue, since it cannot be publicly observed and is known only through each person’s immediate awareness of their own experience.⁠[12]

In November 2023 he and physicist Sabine Hossenfelder argued on X over whether electrons exist, the crux being whether scientific theories tell us how the world really is or are merely tools for prediction; philosopher of science Cat Gillen then surveyed the scientific-realism dispute in an IAI article.⁠[13]

On December 28, 2023, philosopher Galen Strawson reviewed the book in The Guardian, writing “I’m not convinced, but I’m impressed”; he praised it as direct, clear and honest but questioned fine-tuning arguments that vary physical constants while holding the laws of nature fixed, and said he did not think the universe has a purpose.⁠[14]

On October 1, 2024, he wrote in Aeon that he was raised Catholic, rejected Christianity at 14 and long remained “spiritual but not religious”; he now thinks a heretical form of Christianity might be true, favoring the hypothesis, taken seriously by John Stuart Mill, of a good God of limited abilities, and accepting biblical scholar Dale Allison’s unorthodox account of the resurrection.⁠[15]

Philosopher Ben Burgis responded in an essay saying that Goff’s version of Christianity sounds lovely but that he remains an atheist.⁠[16]

As of February 2025 he had published more than 50 academic papers, had helped take panpsychism from a fringe, almost mocked idea to a serious, widely taught school of thought, had appeared on BBCBBCThe BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) is the United Kingdom’s public broadcaster. Its predecessor was the British Broadcasting Company, formed in 1922, and since 1927 it has been established under a Royal Charter. It provides television, radio, and online services in the UK, is funded mainly by the television licence fee, and broadcasts worldwide in multiple languages through BBC World Service.Open the full entry Radio 4 and The Joe RoganJoe RoganJoe Rogan is an American podcaster, stand-up comedian and UFC commentator whose long-form interview podcast The Joe Rogan Experience, launched in 2009, is among the most listened-to podcasts in the world; he hosted the NBC reality show Fear Factor, and his show’s content and political statements have repeatedly drawn controversy.Open the full entry Experience, and had turned his latest research toward the philosophy of religion.⁠[17]

On April 10, 2025, The Tim Ferriss Show released its interview with him (episode 805), covering consciousness, non-ordinary religion, Galileo’s Error and panpsychism.⁠[18]

By December 2025 he had appeared as a panelist on BBC Radio 4’s Beyond Belief and had discussed his perspective on Christianity in an interview on the YouTubeYouTubeYouTube is Google’s video-sharing and creator platform, founded in 2005 by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim and acquired by Google in 2006. Built around video uploading, viewing, and creator earnings, the platform has developed Shorts, YouTube Music, Premium, YouTube TV, and products for children, and is headquartered in San Bruno, California, United States.Open the full entry philosophy series Within Reason.⁠[19]

As of October 2026 he is a professor of philosophy at Durham University; his main research asks how consciousness fits into our overall theory of reality, arguing that physicalism and dualism face insuperable difficulties and defending panpsychism instead.⁠[3]

He co-hosts the podcast Mind Chat with Keith Frankish, a philosopher who defends illusionism, the view that phenomenal consciousness does not exist; from their very different positions they interview scientists and philosophers.⁠[20]

Frankish argues that panpsychism starts from the wrong place; Goff replies that nothing is more evident than the reality of one’s own feelings and experiences.⁠[21]

Personal website: Public link: https://www.philipgoffphilosophy.com/ (opens in a new window)⁠[9]

X: Public account: https://x.com/Philip_Goff (opens in a new window)⁠[9]

Central European University: Official website: https://www.ceu.edu/ (opens in a new window)⁠[4]

Durham University: Official website: https://www.durham.ac.uk/ (opens in a new window)⁠[22]