The Interaction Problem. How does non-physical interact with the physical?

[AgnosticBoy]

One major objection to substance dualism is that a non-physical soul or consciousness would not be able to interact with the physical world. One simple reason is that only physical things (or matter) can occupy space and interact with other physical things in space. This point is used as an argument against the existence of the non-physical. That may be a valid argument until I also realize that the interaction problem presents a challenge for materialism when it comes to explaining the mind/body problem. In other words, in what way are thoughts, dreams, and other subjective experiences entirely physical? Science has yet to show that these mental experiences are physical or how/why a brain can give rise to something so drastically different than itself. So scientists also face an interaction problem when it comes to the mind/body problem or explaining how a seemingly non-physical experience (or even subjective experience) can interact with the physical world.

For Debate:
1. Can the interaction problem be solved? Any ideas on how?
2. Does the interaction problem also apply to science or the materialistic worldview?

 

[AgnosticBoy]

1. Can the interaction problem be solved? Any ideas on how?

Reading some panpsychist views, one explanation might be that the physical isn't real. Everything exists in consciousness, the same way things exist in a dream. This is sort of a monistic panpsychism.

Here's another type of pansychism, but unfortunately, it doesn't mention anything about consciousness being non-physical.

Cosmopsychism is not to be confused with pantheism: the view that the universe is God.[14] Just as the micropsychist holds that electrons have experience but not thought, so the cosmopsychist holds that the universe has some kind of experience, but may refrain from attributing thought or agency to the universe. It could be that the consciousness of the universe is a gigantic mess that doesn’t add up to anything coherent enough to ground cognition.

Source: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/panpsychism/#MicrVersCosm