Intersubjectivity via mediators dependent on the mind

Résumé

According to traditional views, the mediator of intersubjectivity, the physical world, is independent of subjectivity metaphysically because the physical world precedes subjectivity. The paper considers the consequences of a new model of intersubjective mediation where there are no mediators independent of subjectivity. This model recalls a classical idealist position à la Berkeley and Leibniz that has been expanded by John Foster, Howard Robinson, and Timothy Sprigge in contemporary analytical philosophy. The new model has three challenging features: i. it is coherent, cannot be falsified by any result of modern science, ii. it can be argued for using arguments from the philosophy of the mind, iii. it posits that morality, intersubjective acknowledgement, and reality experienced communally have a higher status metaphysically than mere physical existence.