Mind & Numen

The purpose of this dissertation is to come to a better understanding of the nature of philosophical problems, and what it means to make philosophical progress. It is proposed that it is the unsolvable nature of such problems that makes them truly philosophical. It is also proposed that philosophical progress is made by engaging with philosophical problems in a philosophically satisfying manner: neither abandoning unsolvable philosophical problems nor reducing all philosophical problems to formal problems. In support of these objectives, a particular approach to making philosophical progress is proposed, called receptivism. This approach is employed in analyses of four specific problems in the philosophy of mind and philosophy of religion: the problem of consciousness for physicalism, the problem of possibilia, the problem of religious beliefs, and the problem of evil.