Cawdron’s book explores the applications of cosmopsychism, the idea that the universe is conscious, to contemporary discussions of original sin in Christian analytic theology. There are two issues in the scholarship of original sin that the book focuses on. The first is the transmission issue, which explains how original sin is transmitted between humans. The second is the apparent tension between original sin and moral responsibility. In doctrines that include original guilt, where later humans are considered guilty for the first sin, one has trouble with moral responsibility because later humans cannot have prevented something that happened before they were born. This problem also impacts doctrines that do not include original guilt, as one has to explain how people can be guilty for sinful acts if original sin makes the performance of these acts inevitable. Cawdron argues that cosmopsychism can help us resolve both of these issues, suggesting that the placing of consciousness at the fundamental level in cosmopsychism and the fact that the cosmic subject must individuate, or de-combine, to form other subjects, can provide us with a useful understanding of the transmission of original sin. Cawdron also uses cosmopsychism to develop two models of original sin – one including the doctrine of original guilt, and another that does not – to address tensions between the doctrine and moral responsibility.
Introduction Chapter 1: Philosophical Problems with the Doctrine of Original Sin Chapter 2: Augustinian Realism and the Metaphysics of Persistence Chapter 3: From Panpsychism to Cosmopsychism Chapter 4: Cosmopsychism and Classical Christian Theism: Partners or Rivals? Chapter 5: The Corruption-Only Option: Cosmic Idealism, Dissociation, and Mental Causation Chapter 6: The Augustinian Realist Option: Stage Theory, Hylomorphism, and Emergent Cosmopsychist Fission Conclusion Bibliography
Harvey Cawdron is a Research Fellow at the University of St Andrews, and recently completed his PhD on Cosmopsychism and the Metaphysics of Original Sin there under the supervision of Professor Oliver Crisp and Dr Joanna Leidenhag. He has published in journals like Religious Studies, Sophia, Zygon, and the Journal of Disability & Religion. Cawdron has recently been awarded the 2024 Samuel Rutherford Prize for the most distinguished doctoral thesis in English Literature, Scottish History, Church History, or Theology at the University of St Andrews.
Reviews for Cosmopsychism and Original Sin: Corruption in a Conscious Universe
In Cosmopsychism and Original Sin, Harvey Cawdron develops a strikingly novel approach to the doctrine of original sin, drawing on cutting-edge work in the philosophy of mind. By integrating insights from cosmopsychism, he offers a fresh and illuminating perspective on a longstanding theological debate. This book is a powerful example of how bridging two distinct fields can yield fruitful results. -- Yujin Nagasawa * Professor of Philosophy and Kingfisher College Chair of the Philosophy of Religion and Ethics, University of Oklahoma, USA *
