Neutral monism, in philosophy, is the metaphysical view that nature consists of one kind (hence monism) of primal stuff, which in itself is neither mental nor physical, but is capable of mental and physical aspects or attributes. These five broad types of question are called analytical or logical, epistemological, ethical, metaphysical, and aesthetic respectively. ... Metaphysics (Greek words meta = after/beyond and physics = nature) is a branch of philosophy concerned with the study of first principles and being (ontology). ... ...

Neutral monism was introduced by the famous 17th century Dutch philosopher Baruch Spinoza. William James propounded it in his essay "Does Consciousness Exist?" in 1904 (reprinted in Essays in Radical Empiricism in 1912). Bertrand Russell espoused the view for a short period. (16th century - 17th century - 18th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 17th century was that century which lasted from 1601-1700. ... Wikisource has original text related to this article: Baruch Spinoza Spinozism Liberalism Contributions to liberal theory Voorburg External links The Ethics - Split-screen Latin/English or Latin/French The EthicsA READABLE version with all the content still there. ... William James William James (January 11, 1842, New York – August 26, 1910, Chocorua, New Hampshire) was a pioneering psychologist and philosopher. ... Wikisource has original works written by or about: Bertrand Russell Writings available online A Free Mans Worship (1903) Am I an Atheist or an Agnostic? Icarus: The Future of Science Has Religion Made Useful Contributions to Civilization? Ideas that Have Harmed Mankind In Praise of Idleness (1932) Nobel Lecture...

The American philosopher Donald Davidson advanced a position on mind-body identity he called "anomalous monism," which is related to but probably not exactly the same as these earlier theories. ("Anomalous" here meaning "not-physical-law-governed" rather than "strange.") Donald Davidson (March 6, 1917 – August 30, 2003) was an American philosopher and the Willis S. and Marion Slusser Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at the University of California, Berkeley. ...

Emergent materialism is another form of metaphysical monism that respects both mind and matter. Emergent materialism asserts that we will never understand the mechanism of emergence: it will always seem to us like emergence is magical. ... ...

See also: Philosophy of mind, Double aspect theory, Dialectical monism Philosophy of mind is the philosophical study of the nature of the mind, mental events, mental functions, mental properties, and consciousness. ... Dialectical monism is an ontological position which holds that reality is ultimately a unified whole, distinguishing itself from plain monism by asserting that this whole necessarily expresses itself in dualistic terms. ...

External links

• Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry