Toby Peterken

The subject summing problem poses a major challenge for panpsychist theories of consciousness: it seems implausible that the micro-subjective experiences of the billions of particles in a human brain could combine to form a single unified conscious subject. This paper explores the impact of Quantum Field Theory (QFT) on several proposed solutions to this problem. Specifically, I argue that QFT challenges the standard conception of everyday objects, from molecules to chairs to individual people, as mere aggregates of subatomic particles. Instead, objects associated with bound states or resonances are better conceived as unified entities. The implications of this claim for the subject summing problem depend on one’s preferred ontology for QFT: a particle ontology resembles Combinatorial Infusion approaches, while a field ontology parallels cosmopsychism. Both connections are explored in turn. Additionally, QFT suggests a new version of the combination problem: since bound states are ubiquitous, everyday interactions may frequently produce unified physical objects without an apparent merging of conscious experience. While this work is not intended to be conclusive, it highlights the importance of integrating fundamental physics into metaphysical discussions of consciousness.

In this work, we attempt to define a notion of compositeness compatible with Quantum Field Theory. Considering the analytic properties of the S-matrix, we conclude that there is no satisfactory definition of compositeness compatible with Quantum Field Theory. Without this notion, one must claim that all bound states are equally fundamental, that is, one cannot rigorously claim that everyday objects are made of atoms or that atoms are made of protons and neutrons. I then show how an approximate notion of compositeness may be recovered in the regime where the mass of a bound state is close to a multi-particle threshold. Finally, we see that rejecting compositeness solves several of the "problems of everyday objects" encountered in an undergraduate metaphysics course.