Author Guide · Philosophy
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Bernardo Kastrup holds two doctorates: one in computer engineering from Eindhoven University of Technology (2001), and one in philosophy from Radboud University Nijmegen (2019), with a dissertation titled “Analytic Idealism: A consciousness-only ontology”. In between he worked at CERN and Philips Research Laboratories and co-founded Silicon Hive, a processor company Intel bought in 2011. The Dutch philosopher, born in Brazil in 1974, argues that consciousness, not matter, is what reality is made of. He now runs the Essentia Foundation, a Dutch nonprofit for consciousness studies and metaphysics. This guide covers his 12 key books, in order, and where to begin.
By Lisanne Swart · 12 key books · 2011–2025 · Updated October 2026
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Quick answer
Bernardo Kastrup has published 12 books since 2011. Among them are Why Materialism Is Baloney (2014), The Idea of the World (2019) and Decoding Schopenhauer’s Metaphysics (2020). Start with Analytic Idealism in a Nutshell (2024), a short summary of his view written for readers without a technical background; below you will find every book in order and what each one argues.
Where to Start with Bernardo Kastrup
If you want the short version of his whole argument
→ Analytic Idealism in a Nutshell (2024) — written for readers with no technical background.
If you want his popular case against materialism
→ Why Materialism Is Baloney (2014) — the 2014 polemic.
If you want the rigorous, academic version
→ The Idea of the World (2019) — his multi-disciplinary case for the mental nature of reality.
If you come to him through Schopenhauer or Jung
→ Decoding Schopenhauer’s Metaphysics (2020) — then read the Jung book after it.
12 Bernardo Kastrup Books, in Order
Rationalist Spirituality
His first book, published by Iff Books in 2011. As the subtitle says, it approaches the meaning of life and existence through logic and science, setting out a step-by-step argument that ends in guidelines for living a purposeful life.
Dreamed Up Reality
His second book of 2011, also from Iff Books. It takes up the popular intuition that our thoughts create our own reality, interprets insights from meditation rationally, checks them against a review of the scientific literature, and proposes hypotheses that reconcile the facts with that intuition.
Meaning in Absurdity
As the subtitle says, Kastrup looks at bizarre, apparently absurd phenomena and asks what they can tell us about the nature of reality, arguing that people can find profound meaning in the absurd.
Why Materialism Is Baloney
His popular case against materialism, the view that matter produces mind. In its place he sets out a non-materialist metaphysics in which the body exists within the mind, not the other way round. The subtitle’s claim that there is no death follows from that view.
Brief Peeks Beyond
A collection of critical essays on metaphysics, neuroscience, free will, scepticism and culture, which together explore and critique the human condition as it shows itself today.
More Than Allegory
A book about religious myth, truth and belief, built as a journey in three parts towards a case for transcendence: a validation of religion that does not contradict reason.
The Idea of the World
The rigorous version of his argument: a case for the primacy of mind in nature that draws on philosophy, neuroscience, psychology and physics, and argues that reality arises from consciousness rather than the other way round.
Decoding Schopenhauer’s Metaphysics
A guide to the metaphysics of Arthur Schopenhauer’s The World as Will and Representation, read through modern questions: the hard problem of consciousness and the puzzles of quantum mechanics. Kastrup argues that Schopenhauer’s metaphysics has been widely misunderstood and offers a framework that makes its claims consistent.
Decoding Jung’s Metaphysics
After the Schopenhauer book, Kastrup turns to Carl Jung, reconstructing the metaphysics behind Jung’s psychology and, as the subtitle says, reading the archetypes as the semantics of an experiential universe. It was reviewed by Eduard C. Heyning in the Jungian journal Psychological Perspectives.
Science Ideated
A collection of previously published essays, from outlets such as Scientific American and the Institute of Art and Ideas, arguing that ideas, not matter, are the sole object of all the sciences, and charting a shift from materialism to analytic idealism.
Analytic Idealism in a Nutshell
A short introduction to analytic idealism for readers with no technical background, published by Iff Books in October 2024. It explains the view that a world exists independently of our individual minds but is, like us, mental, using metaphors rather than technical argument, and draws out what that means for values, purpose, identity and death.
The Daimon and the Soul of the West
Published in 2025, a book that turns from metaphysics to how to live: as the subtitle says, it is about finding identity, meaning and purpose in a sacrificial life.
In What Order to Read Bernardo Kastrup
Kastrup’s books argue for one position from different angles, so you do not need to read them in order. Publication order does show a development: the early books (2011–2012) approach the meaning of life, reality and bizarre phenomena, Why Materialism Is Baloney (2014) states the case in popular form, The Idea of the World (2019) makes it rigorous, and the later books apply it to Schopenhauer, Jung, science and finally to the question of how to live.
For most readers the shortest route is to start with Analytic Idealism in a Nutshell, go on to Why Materialism Is Baloney for the full popular argument, and keep The Idea of the World for when you want to test the reasoning in detail.
A reading path
1. Analytic Idealism in a Nutshell (2024)
2. Why Materialism Is Baloney (2014)
3. Decoding Schopenhauer’s Metaphysics (2020)
4. The Idea of the World (2019)
5. The Daimon and the Soul of the West (2025)
Everything Else Bernardo Kastrup Published
Beyond the 12 key books: 1 more, grouped by kind.
Open a group with the + to see every book in it.
Contributions to anthologies
1
1 book · 2017
- 2017The Idealist Interpretation of Pandeisma chapter in Pandeism: An Anthology, edited by Knujon Mapson
The years · 1974–2025
Quick facts about Bernardo Kastrup
- Known for
- Kastrup is known for analytic idealism, the view that consciousness, not matter, is the foundation of reality and that individual minds are dissociated parts of one universal consciousness.
- 1974
- Born in Niterói, Brazil
- 2001
- PhD in computer engineering, Eindhoven
- Born
- 21 October 1974, Niterói, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
- Nationality
- Dutch
- Education
- Electronic engineering, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (1997); PhD in computer engineering, Eindhoven University of Technology (2001); PhD in philosophy, Radboud University Nijmegen (2019)
- Worked
- CERN and Philips Research Laboratories; co-founder of Silicon Hive; product strategist and marketing director at ASML
- Now
- Executive director of the Essentia Foundation; founder and CEO of the AI systems company Euclyd
- Philosophy
- Analytic idealism
The red mark is 2014: Why Materialism Is Baloney, his popular case against materialism.
How Bernardo Kastrup Writes: Arguing by Analogy
Kastrup argues mainly through extended analogies. Individual minds are whirlpools in a single stream of consciousness: “The brain doesn’t generate mind in the same way that a whirlpool doesn’t generate water.” To explain how one universal mind could seem to be many separate people, he borrows from psychiatry: dissociative identity disorder, formerly called multiple personality disorder.
He writes in two registers. The popular books, from Why Materialism Is Baloney to Analytic Idealism in a Nutshell, are written for general readers. The Idea of the World and his academic papers make the same case rigorously, drawing on philosophy, neuroscience, psychology and physics. He also reaches readers through his essays for Scientific American and the Institute of Art and Ideas, and through recorded debates.
He places his view in an older tradition rather than presenting it as new. He has written book-length readings of Schopenhauer and Jung, and has discussed analytic idealism with Swami Sarvapriyananda of the Ramakrishna Order, calling it “a modern dressing of what was known to the people in Indus Valley”. The later books, especially The Daimon and the Soul of the West, move from what reality is to how one should live in it.
Watch
The danger of idealism: a broad conversation
Hans Busstra puts viewers’ questions to Kastrup for the Essentia Foundation in 2023, from the consciousness of bacteria and meditation to the real danger of idealism when life hits you hard.
Frequently asked questions about Bernardo Kastrup’s books
How many books has Bernardo Kastrup written?
Twelve books under his own name, from Rationalist Spirituality and Dreamed Up Reality (both 2011) to The Daimon and the Soul of the West (2025). All 12 are on this page. He has also written academic papers, many essays for Scientific American and the Institute of Art and Ideas, and a chapter in Pandeism: An Anthology (2017).
What are Bernardo Kastrup’s books in order?
Rationalist Spirituality (2011), Dreamed Up Reality (2011), Meaning in Absurdity (2012), Why Materialism Is Baloney (2014), Brief Peeks Beyond (2015), More Than Allegory (2016), The Idea of the World (2019), Decoding Schopenhauer’s Metaphysics (2020), Decoding Jung’s Metaphysics (2021), Science Ideated (2021), Analytic Idealism in a Nutshell (2024) and The Daimon and the Soul of the West (2025).
Where should I start with Bernardo Kastrup?
With Analytic Idealism in a Nutshell (2024), a short summary of his position written for readers with no technical background. Then read Why Materialism Is Baloney (2014) for the full popular argument, and The Idea of the World (2019) for the rigorous version.
What is Bernardo Kastrup’s most famous book?
Probably Why Materialism Is Baloney (2014), his popular case against materialism and for the view that the body exists within the mind. For the rigorous version of the argument, read The Idea of the World (2019).
What is analytic idealism?
Kastrup’s name for his view that consciousness is the basic stuff of reality. There is one universal consciousness; individual minds such as yours and mine are dissociated parts of it. The world exists independently of any individual mind, but it is mental in nature, not made of matter in the materialist sense.
Is Bernardo Kastrup Dutch?
Yes. He is a Dutch national, studied and worked in the Netherlands, and runs the Dutch nonprofit Essentia Foundation. He was born in Niterói, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on 21 October 1974, and took his first degree at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro; he has said he does not hold Brazilian nationality.
Do scientists and philosophers accept analytic idealism?
It is contested, and Kastrup’s critics include physicists and philosophers. The physicist Sean Carroll criticised a 2018 article of his on quantum mechanics; the philosopher Philip Goff published a “Response to Bernardo Kastrup” in 2020; and Kastrup has debated, among others, Christof Koch, Susan Blackmore, Graham Oppy and Donald Hoffman, and published a critique of Sabine Hossenfelder’s superdeterminism in 2022. The writer John Horgan has defended him, describing his work as reminiscent of that of the physicist John Archibald Wheeler.
What is the Essentia Foundation?
A Dutch nonprofit for education, writing and research in consciousness studies and metaphysics, of which Kastrup is executive director. Its YouTube channel publishes video conversations, including ones with Kastrup himself.
Does Bernardo Kastrup have two PhDs?
Yes: a PhD in computer engineering from Eindhoven University of Technology (2001), on artificial intelligence and reconfigurable computing, and a PhD in philosophy from Radboud University Nijmegen (2019), with the dissertation “Analytic Idealism: A consciousness-only ontology”.
Is Bernardo Kastrup still alive?
Yes. He was born on 21 October 1974. Besides writing and running the Essentia Foundation, he is founder and CEO of Euclyd, an AI systems company, and his most recent book, The Daimon and the Soul of the West, appeared in 2025.
Footnotes
- Bernardo Kastrup — Wikipedia
- Analytic Idealism in a Nutshell — Simon & Schuster
- The Daimon and the Soul of the West — Simon & Schuster
- Bernardo Kastrup — Scientific American
- Bernardo Kastrup — HowTheLightGetsIn, Institute of Art and Ideas
- The danger of Idealism — Essentia Foundation, 2023
Bibliography last verified 9 October 2026. Where sources give different first-publication years, this page uses the year in library catalogues or the publisher’s own record.
This list was not put together by a machine.
The notes are all mine,
and the books are all his.
Lisanne x
Written by Lisanne Swart, who has curated reading lists and author guides at lisanneswart.com since 2021.
See more on her personal bookshelf.
“The brain doesn’t generate mind in the same way that a whirlpool doesn’t generate water.”
— Bernardo Kastrup, quoted by the Institute of Art and Ideas on his HowTheLightGetsIn speaker page
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