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The term physicalism was coined by Otto Neurath, in a series of early 20th century essays on the subject, in which he wrote Otto Neurath (December 10, 1882-December 22, 1945) was an Austrian sociologist, political economist, and an unorthodox Marxist. ...
According to physicalism, the language of physics is the universal language of science and, consequently, any knowledge can be brought back to the statements on the physical objects. Physicalism is the metaphysical position asserting that everything which exists has a physical property; that is, that there are no kinds of things other than physical things. In contemporary philosophy physicalism is most frequently associated with philosophy of mind, in particular the mind/body problem, in which it holds that the mind is a physical thing in some sense. Physicalism is also called "materialism", but the term "physicalism" is preferable because it has evolved with the physical sciences to incorporate far more sophisticated notions of physicality than matter, for example wave/particle relationships and unseen, non-material forces. Some philosophers use the term "materialism" to denote descriptions based on the motions of matter and "physicalism" for descriptions based on matter and world geometry (see: Stoljar 2001). Plato and Aristotle (right), by Raphael (Stanza della Segnatura, Rome). ...
1) A physical property is an aspect of an object that can be experienced using one of the five human senses: touch, taste, smell, sight or sound, or, in an extended sense, detected through any measuring device. ...
The philosopher Socrates about to take poison hemlock as ordered by the court. ...
A Phrenological mapping of the brain. ...
René Descartes illustration of dualism. ...
The ontology of physicalism ultimately includes whatever is described by physics -- not just matter but energy, space, time, physical forces, structure, physical processes, information, state, etc. Physics (Greek: (phúsis), nature and (phusiké), knowledge of nature) is the science concerned with the discovery and characterization of universal laws which govern matter, energy, space, and time. ...
This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ...
Space has been an interest for philosophers and scientists for much of human history. ...
A pocket watch, a device used to tell time Look up time in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...
In physics, a net force acting on a body causes that body to accelerate; that is, to change its velocity. ...
Look up Structure in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...
Process (lat. ...
Physical information refers generally to the information that is contained in a physical system. ...
In information processing, a state is the complete set of properties (for example, its energy level, etc. ...
Because it claims that only physical things exist, physicalism is generally a form of monism, although some interpretations of it are dualist. In contrast, subjective idealism, as exemplified by the metaphysics proposed by George Berkeley, holds that there is no physical reality at all and that everything that exists is mental or spiritual (ie it is also monistic, but in disagreement over the fundamental nature of that monistic reality). Neutral monism, a philosophy advocated by Baruch Spinoza also that states that only one substance exists, but that this substance is neither physical nor mental. To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article may require cleanup. ...
The term dualism is the state of being dual, or having a twofold division. ...
Subjective idealism is a theory in the philosophy of perception. ...
George Berkeley (IPA: , Bark-Lee) (12 March 1685 â 14 January 1753), also known as Bishop Berkeley, was an influential Irish philosopher whose primary philosophical achievement is the advancement of a theory he called immaterialism (later referred to as subjective idealism by others). ...
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. ...
Benedictus de Spinoza or Baruch de Spinoza (Hebrew: ×ר×× ×©×¤×× ×××) (lived November 24, 1632 â February 21, 1677) was a Dutch philosopher of Portuguese Jewish origin. ...
Image File history File links Socrates. ...
Supervenience
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Supervenience is the most important concept within physicalism. It describes the relationship between the fundamental objects of physical reality and those of everyday experience as well as those of a more abstract social nature. Subtle differences in the interpretation of the supervenience concept underscore different schools of thought within physicalism. In philosophy, supervenience is a well-defined dependency relation between higher-level (. mental) and lower-level (. physical) properties. ...
In philosophy, supervenience is a well-defined dependency relation between higher-level (. mental) and lower-level (. physical) properties. ...
It can be seen as the relationship between a higher level and lower level of existence where the higher level is dependent on the lower level, such that one level supervenes on another when there can only be a change in the higher level if there is also a change in the lower level. (e.g. a set of properties A supervenes upon a set of properties B when there cannot be an A difference without a B difference). The debate in this metaphor is to what extent the levels actually exist independently of their fundamental lowest level - the physical. Superveniences establishes such a relationship between the mental and the physical, so that any change in the mental is caused by a change in the physical. Just as a shadow is dependent upon the position of the object causing it, so is the mental dependent upon the physical. Physicalism thus implies (through modal realism) that: Modal realism is the view, notably propounded by David Lewis, that possible worlds are as real as the actual world. ...
- No two worlds could be identical in every physical respect yet differ in some other respect.
The corresponding conclusion about the mental would be as follows: - No two beings, or things could be identical in every physical respect yet differ in some mental respect.
Another description of supervenience does away with levels altogether and rather pictures reality as a matrix or mosaic, upon which we imply different patterns (the old levels) but emphasising that all patterns are variations of the same implicit reality. However, supervenience alone is not sufficient to establish the basis of physicalism. It is possible that mental or other non-physical states supervene upon the physical. As this allows for the possibility that the mind is causally inefficacious and only contingently related to the physical, supervenience physicalism is compatible with epiphenomenalism. However, when supervenience physicalism and token physicalism are combined, minimal physicalism is met, as will be detailed in the following sections. Epiphenomenalism is a view in philosophy of mind according to which some or all mental states are mere epiphenomena (side-effects or by-products) of physical states of the world. ...
Token and Type Token physicalism Token physicalism is synomymous with Property Dualism. Token physicalism states "for every actual particular (i.e. object, event or process) x, there is some physical particular y such that x=y". This does not entail nor is entailed by supervenience, although if supervenience is true, it does not necessarily rule out token physicalism. The difference between supervenience and token physicalism is simple; token physicalism states that for every mental particular there is a physical particular to which it is identical, while supervenience physicalism states that set A (e.g. mental properties) cannot change unless set B (e.g. physical properties) changes as well. (i.e. A supervenes on B). As the name suggests, this is a dualistic conception of reality does not discount the option of physical properties also having non-supervened mental properties. Supervenience physicalism certainly does rule out this possibility.[1] In metaphysics, particulars are, one might say, identified by what they are not: they are not abstract, not multiply instantiated. ...
Still, token physicalism presents at least two problems. It requires that for social, moral, and psychological particulars there must be a physical particular identical with them. Consider the Supreme Court of the United States. The Supreme Court exists, but according to token physicalism, there is a physical object that is identical to the Supreme Court. However, this physical particular does not necessarily exist in any conventional use of the word 'physical'. Supervenience escapes this problem as the social, moral, and psychological particulars are said to supervene on the physical particulars that compose them. Another problem is that token physicalism does not capture minimal physicalism, meaning that it does not capture the core commitment of physicalism, i.e. that everything is physical. Simply because every particular has a physical property does not rule out the possibility that some particulars have non-supervenient mental properties.
Type physicalism -
Type physicalism (also known as Type Identity Theory, Type-Type theory or just Identity Theory) is the theory, in the philosophy of mind, which asserts that mental events are type-identical to the physical events in the brain with which they are correlated. In other words, that mental states or properties are neurological states or properties. It is called type identity in order to distinguish it from a similar but distinct theory called the token identity theory. Type physicalism (also known as Type Identity Theory, Type-Type theory or just Identity Theory) is the theory, in the philosophy of mind, which asserts that mental events are type-identical to the physical events in the brain with which they are correlated. ...
A Phrenological mapping of the brain. ...
To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...
Positive linear correlations between 1000 pairs of numbers. ...
According to Ullin Place, one of the popularizers of the idea of type-identity in the 1950s and '60s, the idea of type-identical mind/body physicalism originated in the 1930s with the psychologist E. G. Boring and took nearly a quarter of a century to finally catch on and become accepted by the philosophical community. Boring, in a book entitled The Physical Dimensions of Consciousness (1933) wrote that: Ullin Place (1924 â 2000) was a British philosopher and psychologist. ...
Edwin Garrigues Boring (October 23, 1886-July 1, 1968 [1]) is one of the first historians of psychology. ...
To the author a perfect correlation is identity. Two events that always occur together at the same time in the same place, without any temporal or spatial differentiation at all are not two events but the same event. The mind-body correlations as formulated at present, do not admit of spatial correlation, so they reduce to matters of simple correlation in time. The need for identification is no less urgent in this case. The barrier to the acceptance of any such vision of the mind, according to Place, was that philosophers and logicians had not yet taken a substantial interest in questions of identity and referential identification in general. The dominant epistemology of the logical positivists at that time was phenomenalism, in the guise of the theory of sense-data. Indeed Boring himself subscribed to the phenomenalist creed, attempting to reconcile it with an identity theory and this resulted in a reductio ad absurdum of the identity theory, since brain states would have turned out, on this analysis, to be identical to colors, shapes, tones and other sensory experiences. It has been suggested that Meta-epistemology be merged into this article or section. ...
Logical positivism is a school of philosophy that combines empiricismâthe idea that observational evidence is indispensable for knowledge of the world â with a version of rationalismâthe idea that our knowledge includes a component that is not derived from observation. ...
In epistemology and the philosophy of perception, phenomenalism is the view that physical objects do not exist as things in themselves but only as perceptual phenomena or sensory stimuli (e. ...
The revival of interest in the work of Gottlob Frege and his ideas of sense and reference on the part of Herbert Feigl and J.J.C. Smart, along with the discrediting of phenomenalism through the influence of the later Wittgenstein and J.L. Austin, led to a more tolerant climate toward physicalistic and realist ideas. Logical behaviorism emerged as a serious contender to take the place of the Cartesian "ghost in the machine" and, although not lasting very long as a dominant position on the mind/body problem, its elimination of the whole realm of internal mental events was strongly influential in the formation and acceptance of the thesis of type identity. Friedrich Ludwig Gottlob Frege (8 November 1848, Wismar â 26 July 1925, IPA: ) was a German mathematician who became a logician and philosopher. ...
Senses are the physiological methods of perception. ...
In general, a reference is something that refers to or designates something else, or acts as a connection or a link between two things. ...
Herbert Feigl (December 14, 1902 - June 1, 1988) was an Austrian philosopher and a member of the Vienna Circle. ...
John Jameison Carswell Smart, or Jack Smart, (born 1920) is an English-Australian philosopher. ...
Wittgenstein and Hitler in school photograph taken at the Linz Realschule in 1903. ...
John Langshaw Austin (March 28, 1911 - February 8, 1960) was a philosopher of language, who developed much of the current theory of speech acts. ...
The type/token distinction is easily illustrated by way of example. In the phrase "yellow is yellow is yellow is yellow", there are only two types of words ("yellow" and "is") but there are seven tokens (four of one and three of the other). The thesis of type physicalism consists in the idea that mental event types (e.g. pain in all individual organisms of all species at all times) are, at least contingently, identical with specific event types in the brain (e.g. C-fibre firings in all individual organisms of all species and at all times). If type physicalism is true then mental state M1 would be identical to brain state B1. This would imply that a specific mental state of pain, for example, would perfectly correlate to a specific brain state in all organisms at all times. However, some qualify this by saying that some mental states are not always reduced to only one specific brain state (see Putnam's multiple realizability). That is, the same mental state can be produced from many different physical brain states. Token physicalism only states that for every particular occurrence, there is a physical particular with which it is identical. Therefore, while the mental state of pain or happiness is not type-identical to any one specific brain state, it is still physical and identical to a particular brain state. It may be helpful to understand that we often use different sets of vocabulary to describe an identical thing, which arise out of different disciplines. For example, a particular color, say, yellow, is a term that is identical to a particular light wavelength within the visible electro-magnetic spectrum. In this case to describe the actual color yellow and to describe the same as a wavelength, is an example of a type-type identity for they are the same thing. Hilary Whitehall Putnam (born July 31, 1926) is an American philosopher who has been a central figure in Western philosophy since the 1960s, especially in philosophy of mind, philosophy of language, and philosophy of science. ...
Multiple realizability, in philosophy of mind, is the thesis that the same mental kind (property, state, event) can be realized by different physical kinds (properties, states or events). ...
Reductive and non-reductive Reductionism is a philosophical concept regarding the relationship between the parts of an object and the whole.
Reductive physicalism The physicalist variations discussed above (Token Physicalism aka Property Dualism, and Type Physicalism aka Identity Theory) are all ontologically reductionist, as they reduce mental states and processes into physical states and processes. Ontological reductionism is the idea that everything that exists is made from a small number of basic substances that behave in regular ways. ...
Reductive physicalism is not incompatible with eliminativism - the view that psychological states do not exist at all. In the philosophy of mind, eliminative materialism is the school of thought that argues for an absolute version of materialism and physicalism with respect to mental entities and mental vocabulary. ...
All of these types of reductive physicalism are grounded in the idea that everything in the world can actually be reduced analytically to its fundamental physical, or material, basis. This is one reason why "physicalism" is often used interchangeably with the word "materialism." Both terms (in these instances) hold that all organic and inorganic processes can be explained by reference to the laws of nature. The general success of physics in explaining a large range of phenomena in terms of a few of these basic natural laws; such as gravity, electricity, composition of mass, has assisted this belief. [2] Physics (Greek: (phúsis), nature and (phusiké), knowledge of nature) is the science concerned with the discovery and characterization of universal laws which govern matter, energy, space, and time. ...
Non-reductive physicalism The earliest forms of physicalism, growing historically out of materialism, were reductionist. But after Donald Davidson introduced the concept of supervenience to physicalism, non-reductionist physicalism became more popular. Donald Davidson (March 6, 1917 â August 30, 2003) was an American philosopher and the Willis S. and Marion Slusser Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at the University of California, Berkeley. ...
In philosophy, supervenience is a well-defined dependency relation between higher-level (. mental) and lower-level (. physical) properties. ...
Non-reductive physicalism is the idea that while mental states are physical they are not reducible to physical properties. Donald Davidson proposed anomalous monism as a non-reductive physicalism. Supervenience physicalism (also proposed by Donald Davidson) is a non-reductive physicalism, as mental events supervene (i.e. physical properties are identical to mental properties) on physical events rather than mental events reducing to physical events. For example if we accept supervenience physicalism, the pain someone would feel if electrocuted would supervene on the firing of their c-fibres. If we accept reductive physicalism, the pain would be those c-fibres firing. Anomalous Monism is a philosophical thesis about the mind-body relationship. ...
A. A schematic view of an idealized action potential illustrates its various phases as the action potential passes a point on a cell membrane. ...
C-fibers are unmyelinated and as a result, have a slower conduction velocity, lower than 2 m/s. ...
Emergentism is a theory which came to popularity in the early twentieth century. It is a form of non-reductive supervenience, but one where reality is considered to supervene in a manner more akin to layers, rather than patterns within a single layer, as per later physicalism. These layers are said to be genuinely novel from each other (i.e. the psychological vs. the physical), and is thus a type of dualism. Physicalism is essentially monistic. In philosophy, emergentism is the belief in emergence, particularly as it involves consciousness and the philosophy of mind, and as it contrasts with reductionism. ...
It has been suggested that Combative dualism be merged into this article or section. ...
Monism is the metaphysical position that all is of one essential essence, substance or energy. ...
Nonreductive physicalism has been especially popular among philosophers of biology and some biologists, who argue that all biological facts are fixed by physical facts but that biological properties and regularities supervene on so many multiple realizations of macromolecular arrangements that the biological is not reducible to the physical. Prominent exponents of this view are Philip Kitcher and Elliot Sober. Alexander Rosenberg introduced Davidson's notion to the debate in 1978 but thereafter argued against nonreductive physicalism in ways similar to Jaegwon Kim's (see immediately below). Elliott Sober -- Hans Reichenbach Professor and William F. Vilas Research Professor in the Department of Philosophy at University of Wisconsin. ...
Alexander Rosenberg is an American philosopher, and the R. Taylor Cole Professor of Philosophy at Duke University. ...
A priori and A posteriori Physicalism is then further divided depending on whether it can be known a priori or a posteriori that: If physicalism is true, S is the statement that describes the entire physical nature of the world collectively, and S* is the statement that describes the entire nature of the world, then S entails S*. A priori physicalism is that which assumes that the above can be known without observation (i.e. independently from experience). Originally it was assumed that physicalism was a priori, until Kripke published Naming and Necessity in 1980, which proposed the idea that there are truths that are both necessary and a posteriori. A posteriori physicalism is that which holds physicalism as a necessary truth that is known a posteriori (i.e. known through empirical observation). There are two main interpretations of a posteriori physicalism which exist today. One is that a posteriori truth can be reached a priori by contingent a posteriori truths. The other holds that there are a posteriori truths that are taken from non-contingent (i.e. necessary) truths. A problem arises when the former is combined with the above statement "S entails S*". The problem is that, according to the former, there is a contingent truth that entails the above statement S#, so that S and S# then S*. [3] However, if S describes the nature of the physical world collectively, it seems that S# is already included in S. Therefore, the truth is not a posteriori after all, but merely the same statement knowable a priori. The a posteriori physicalist must then turn to the alternative interpretation that there are non-contingent a posteriori truths. However, this view remains very controversial within analytic philosophy and it remains an unsettled question.
Arguments for physicalism Exclusion principle One argument is the exclusion principle, which states that if an event e causes event e*, then there is no event e# such that e# is non-supervenient on e and e# causes e*. This comes when one poses this scenario; One usually considers that the desire to lift one’s arm as a mental event, and the lifting of one's arm, a physical event. According to the exclusion principle, there must be an event that does not supervene on e while causing e*. This is interpreted as meaning, mental events supervene upon the physical. However, some philosophers accept epiphenomenalism, which states mental events are caused by physical events, but physical events are not caused by mental events. However, If e# does not cause e, then there is no way to verify that e* exists. Yet, this debate has not been settled in the philosophical community.[4]. The Pauli exclusion principle, commonly referred to simply as the exclusion principle, is a quantum mechanical principle formulated by Wolfgang Pauli in 1925, which states that no two identical fermions may occupy the same quantum state. ...
Epiphenomenalism is a view in philosophy of mind according to which some or all mental states are mere epiphenomena (side-effects or by-products) of physical states of the world. ...
Argument from methodological naturalism The argument from methodological naturalism has two premises. First, it is rational to form one's metaphysical beliefs based on the methods of natural science. Secondly, the metaphysical world view is one that is led to by the methods of natural science, which is physicalism. Thus, it is most likely that physicalism is true. One reply to this argument is to reject the second premise and state that one is not led to physicalism by the natural sciences. However, this does not seem to have much support. While there are other options when considering the nature of the world, panpsychism in cognitive science, or vitalism in biology, this is irrelevant. The argument merely states that physicalism is the most likely, not that other views are impossible. Methodological naturalism (MN) refers to any method of inquiry or investigation or any procedure for gaining knowledge that limits itself to natural, physical, and material approaches and explanations. ...
Arguments against physicalism Knowledge argument Though there have been many objections to physicalism throughout its history, many of these arguments concern themselves with the apparent contradiction of the existence of qualia in an entirely physical world. The most popular argument of this kind is the so-called knowledge argument as formulated by Frank Jackson. The argument asks us to consider Mary, a young girl who has been forced to investigate the world from a black and white room via a black and white television monitor throughout her life. However, she is allowed access to a large amount of books, containing all physical knowledge within them. During her time in the room, she eventually comes to know all of the physical facts about the world, including all of the physical facts about color. Now, to the physicalist, it would seem that this would entail Mary knowing everything about the world. However, once she is let out of her room and into the world, it becomes apparent that Mary does not know everything about the world, such as the feeling or experience of seeing color. If Mary did not have such knowledge, how can it be said that everything supervenes upon the physical? Redness is the canonical quale. ...
Frank Cameron Jackson (born 1943) is a professor of philosophy at the Australian National University. ...
One way the physicalist may respond to this argument is through the ability hypothesis, developed by Lawrence Nemerow and David Lewis. The ability hypothesis draws a distinction between propositional knowledge, such as 'Mary knows that the sky is typically blue during the day', and knowledge-how, such as 'Mary knows how to climb a mountain'. It then states that all that Mary gains from her experience is knowledge-how. This argument shows that while Mary does gain knowledge from her experience, it is not the propositional knowledge which would need to be obtained if the knowledge argument were to be logically sound [5]. (See also: Mary's room.) David Kellogg Lewis (September 28, 1941 â October 14, 2001) is considered to have been one of the leading analytic philosophers of the latter half of the 20th century. ...
Marys room (also known as Mary the super-scientist) is a philosophical thought experiment proposed by Frank Jackson in his article Epiphenomenal Qualia (1982) and extended in What Mary Didnt Know (1986). ...
Argument from philosophical zombies The zombie argument is a thought experiment that states "there is a possible world in which there exist zombies". Zombies are organisms that appear to have consciousness and qualia, but in reality do not. Also, in this case they have to be identical copies of organisms in the actual world or another possible world. Though few think zombies are nomologically possible, that is, possible in our world, some philosophers do argue that they are metaphysically possible. This poses a problem for the physicalist as the metaphysical possibility of zombies would entail that mental states do not supervene upon physical states, a claim that the physicalist is committed to. It is then the burden of the physicalist to show that zombies are not conceivable, or if they are conceivable, that they are not metaphysically possible. In philosophy, a philosophical zombie or p-zombie is a hypothetical person that, despite a strong likeness to normal human beings, lacks conscious experience or (in other words) has no qualia at all. ...
In philosophy, physics, and other fields, a thought experiment (from the German Gedankenexperiment) is an attempt to solve a problem using the power of human imagination. ...
In biology and ecology, an organism (in Greek organon = instrument) is a living being. ...
Consciousness is a quality of the mind generally regarded to comprise qualities such as subjectivity, self-awareness, sentience, sapience, and the ability to perceive the relationship between oneself and ones environment. ...
Redness is the canonical quale. ...
One argument against the conceivability of zombies comes from Daniel Dennett who argues that, "when philosophers claim that zombies are conceivable, they invariably underestimate the task of conception (or imagination), and end up imagining something that violates their own definition". Dennett, in The Unimagined Preposterousness of Zombies (1995) compares consciousness to health. Daniel Clement Dennett (b. ...
Supposing that by an act of stipulative imagination you can remove consciousness while leaving all cognitive systems intact — a quite standard but entirely bogus feat of imagination — is like supposing that by an act of stipulative imagination, you can remove health while leaving all bodily functions and powers intact. … Health isn't that sort of thing, and neither is consciousness. However, the previous argument notwithstanding, does the conceivability of zombies entail their possibility? One response rests on the concept of the nature of qualia. If certain non-physical properties exist which match our conception of qualia, then such non-physical properties would be qualia, and zombies would be conceivable and possible. However, if there are no non-physical properties, then what we think of as qualia, are the physical properties which perform the functional tasks of what we conceive of as qualia. In this scenario, zombies would not be conceivable. Through this approach to the problem, physicalists can accept that the possibility of zombies is conceivable, while simultaneously denying that zombies are possible. [6] Redness is the canonical quale. ...
Jaegwon Kim against non-reductivism
Figure demonstration how M1 and M2 are not reduced to P1 and P2. In response to Davidson's anomalous monism, Kim proposed that one cannot be a physicalist and a non-reductivist. He proposes (using the chart on the right) that M1 causes M2 (these are mental events) and P1 causes P2 (these are physical events). P1 realises M1 and P2 realises M2. However M1 does not causally effect P1 (i.e. M1 is a consequent event of P1). If P1 causes P2, and M1 is a result of P1, then M2 is a result of P2. He says that the only alternatives this problem is to accept dualism (where the mental events are independent of the physical events) or eliminativism (where the mental events do not exist). Image File history File links Figure1. ...
Image File history File links Figure1. ...
Jaegwon Kim (1934- ) is an American philosopher who explores the limitations of theories of strict psychophysical identity. ...
A consequent is the second half of a hypothetical proposition. ...
It has been suggested that Combative dualism be merged into this article or section. ...
In the philosophy of mind, eliminative materialism is the school of thought that argues for an absolute version of materialism and physicalism with respect to mental entities and mental vocabulary. ...
Hempel's Dilemma -
Hempel's Dilemma attacks how physicalism is defined. If, for instance, one defines physicalism as the universe is composed of everything known by physics, one can point out that physics cannot describe how the mind functions. If physicalism is defined as anything which may be described by physics in the future, one is saying nothing. [7] Hempels Dilemma is a question first asked (at least on record) by the philosopher Carl Hempel. ...
See also Cognitive science is usually defined as the scientific study either of mind or of intelligence (e. ...
Consciousness is a quality of the mind generally regarded to comprise qualities such as subjectivity, self-awareness, sentience, sapience, and the ability to perceive the relationship between oneself and ones environment. ...
Epiphenomenalism is a view in philosophy of mind according to which some or all mental states are mere epiphenomena (side-effects or by-products) of physical states of the world. ...
Hempels Dilemma is a question first asked (at least on record) by the philosopher Carl Hempel. ...
To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article may require cleanup. ...
Marys room (also known as Mary the super-scientist) is a philosophical thought experiment proposed by Frank Jackson in his article Epiphenomenal Qualia (1982) and extended in What Mary Didnt Know (1986). ...
A Phrenological mapping of the brain. ...
In the philosophy of time, presentism is the belief that neither the future nor the past exists. ...
Descartes held that non-human animals could be reductively explained as automata â De homines 1622. ...
In philosophy, supervenience is a well-defined dependency relation between higher-level (. mental) and lower-level (. physical) properties. ...
Multiple realizability, in philosophy of mind, is the thesis that the same mental kind (property, state, event) can be realized by different physical kinds (properties, states or events). ...
Notes - ^ http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/physicalism/#5
- ^ http://www.pbs.org/faithandreason/gengloss/redphys-body.html
- ^ http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/physicalism/#7
- ^ http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/physicalism/#15
- ^ http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/physicalism/#12
- ^ http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/zombies/#5
- ^ Paul Newall. Philosophy of Mind. Retrieved on 2007-01-14.
2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the CE era. ...
January 14 is the 14th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ...
References - Ayer, A.J. (1982). Philosophy in the Twentieth Century. Weidenfield.
- Stoljar, Daniel (2001). Physicalism. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Stanford University. Retrieved on 2006-06-02.
- Reductive Physicalism. Faith and Reason. PBS. Retrieved on 2006-06-08.
- Place, Ullin T (1999). Token- Versus Type-Identity Theory. SWIF Philosophy of Mind. University of Leed. Retrieved on 2006-06-10.
- Kirk, Robert (2003). Zombies. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Stanford University. Retrieved on 2006-06-17.
For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ...
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External links | General The philosopher Socrates about to take poison hemlock as ordered by the court. ...
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Western philosophy is a modern claim that there is a line of related philosophical thinking, beginning in ancient Greece (Greek philosophy) and the ancient Near East (the Abrahamic religions), that continues to this day. ...
The history of philosophy is the study of philosophical ideas and concepts through time. ...
This page lists some links to ancient philosophy, although for Western thinkers prior to Socrates, see Pre-Socratic philosophy. ...
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17th-century philosophy in the West is generally regarded as seeing the start of modern philosophy, and the shaking off of the mediæval approach, especially scholasticism. ...
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| | Lists | Basic topics · Topic list · Philosophers · Philosophies · Glossary · Movements · More lists Philosophy is a broad field of knowledge in which the definition of knowledge itself is one of the subjects investigated. ...
This page aims to list articles on Wikipedia that are related to philosophy, beginning with the letters A through C. This is so that those interested in the subject can monitor changes to the pages by clicking on Related changes in the sidebar. ...
The alphabetical list of philosophers is so large it had to be broken up into several pages. ...
Philosophies: particular schools of thought, styles of philosophy, or descriptions of philosophical ideas attributed to a particular group or culture - listed in alphabetical order. ...
This is a list of topics relating to philosophy that end in -ism. ...
A philosophical movement is either the appearance or increased popularity of a specific school of philosophy, or a fairly broad but identifiable sea-change in philosophical thought on a particular subject. ...
This is a list of philosophical lists. ...
| | Branches | Aesthetics · Ethics · Epistemology · Logic · Metaphysics · Political philosophy The Parthenons facade showing an interpretation of golden rectangles in its proportions. ...
Ethics (from the Ancient Greek Äthikos, the adjective of Äthos custom, habit), a major branch of philosophy, including genetics is the study of values and customs of a person or group. ...
It has been suggested that Meta-epistemology be merged into this article or section. ...
Logic, from Classical Greek λÏÎ³Î¿Ï logos (meaning word, account, reason or principle), is the study of the principles and criteria of valid inference and demonstration. ...
Plato and Aristotle (right), by Raphael (Stanza della Segnatura, Rome). ...
The Politics series Politics Portal This box: Political philosophy is the study of fundamental questions about the state, government, politics, liberty, justice, property, rights, law and the enforcement of a legal code by authority: what they are, why (or even if) they are needed, what makes a government legitimate, what...
| | Philosophy of | Education · Geography · Information · History · Human nature · Language · Law · Literature · Mathematics · Mind · Philosophy · Physics · Psychology · Religion · Science · Social science · Technology · War The philosophy of information (PI) is a new area of research, which studies conceptual issues arising at the intersection of computer science, information technology, and philosophy. ...
Philosophy of History is an area of philosophy concerning the eventual significance, if any, of human history. ...
Philosophical anthropology is the discipline that seeks to unify the several empirical investigations of human nature in an effort to understand individuals as both creatures of their environment and creators of their own values. ...
Philosophy of law is a branch of philosophy and jurisprudence which studies basic questions about law and legal systems, such as what is the law?, what are the criteria for legal validity?, what is the relationship between law and morality?, and many other similar questions. ...
Philosophy and literature is the literary treatment of philosophers and philosophical themes. ...
// Philosophy of mathematics is the branch of philosophy that studies the philosophical assumptions, foundations, and implications of mathematics. ...
A Phrenological mapping of the brain. ...
Meta-philosophy (philosophy of philosophy) is the study of the subject, matter, methods and aims of philosophy. ...
Philosophy of physics is the study of the fundamental, philosophical questions underlying modern physics, the study of matter and energy and how they interact. ...
Philosophy of psychology typically refers to a set of issues at the theoretical foundations of modern psychology. ...
Philosophy of science is the study of assumptions, foundations, and implications of science, especially in the natural sciences and social sciences. ...
Philosophy of social science is the scholarly elucidation and debate of accounts of the nature of the social sciences, their relations to each other, and their relations to the natural sciences (see natural science). ...
The Philosophy of technology is a philosophical field dedicated to studying the nature of technology and its social effects. ...
The Philosophy of war examines war beyond the typical questions of weaponry and strategy, inquiring into the meaning and etiology of war, what war means for humanity and human nature as well as the ethics of war. ...
| | Schools | Analytic philosophy · Aristotelianism · Continental Philosophy · Critical theory · Deconstructionism · Deontology · Dialectical materialism · Dualism · Empiricism · Epicureanism · Existentialism · Hegelianism · Hermeneutics · Humanism · Idealism · Kantianism · Logical Positivism · Marxism · Materialism · Monism · Neoplatonism · Nihilism · Ordinary Language · Phenomenology · Platonism · Positivism · Postmodernism · Poststructuralism · Pragmatism · Presocratic · Rationalism · Realism · Relativism · Scholasticism · Skepticism · Stoicism · Structuralism · Utilitarianism · Virtue Ethics Analytic philosophy is a generic term for a style of philosophy that came to prominence during the 20th Century. ...
Aristotelianism is a tradition of philosophy that takes its defining inspiration from the work of Aristotle. ...
Continental philosophy is a term used in philosophy to designate one of two major traditions of modern Western philosophy. ...
Critical theory, in sociology and philosophy, is shorthand for critical theory of society or critical social theory, a label used by the Frankfurt School, i. ...
Deconstruction is a term in contemporary philosophy, literary criticism, and the social sciences, denoting a process by which the texts and languages of Western philosophy (in particular) appear to shift and complicate in meaning when read in light of the assumptions and absences they reveal within themselves. ...
This does not cite any references or sources. ...
It has been suggested that Marxist philosophy of nature be merged into this article or section. ...
It has been suggested that Combative dualism be merged into this article or section. ...
In philosophy generally, empiricism is a theory of knowledge emphasizing the role of experience in the formation of ideas, while discounting the notion of innate ideas. ...
Epicureanism is a system of philosophy based upon the teachings of Epicurus (c. ...
Existentialism is a philosophical movement in which individual human beings are understood as having full responsibility for creating the meanings of their own lives. ...
Hegelianism is a philosophy developed by Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel which can be summed up by a favorite motto by Hegel, the rational alone is real, which means that all reality is capable of being expressed in rational categories. ...
Hermeneutics may be described as the development and study of theories of the interpretation and understanding of texts. ...
Humanism[1] is a broad category of ethical philosophies that affirm the dignity and worth of all people, based on the ability to determine right and wrong by appeal to universal human qualitiesâparticularly rationalism. ...
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Immanuel Kant (22 April 1724 â 12 February 1804) was a German philosopher from Königsberg in East Prussia (now Kaliningrad, Russia). ...
Logical positivism is a school of philosophy that combines empiricismâthe idea that observational evidence is indispensable for knowledge of the world â with a version of rationalismâthe idea that our knowledge includes a component that is not derived from observation. ...
Marxism takes its name from the praxis (the synthesis of philosophy and political action) of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. ...
In philosophy, materialism is that form of physicalism which holds that the only thing that can truly be said to exist is matter; that fundamentally, all things are composed of material and all phenomena are the result of material interactions. ...
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Neoplatonism (also Neo-Platonism) is the modern term for a school of philosophy that took shape in the 3rd century AD, based on the teachings of Plato and earlier Platonists. ...
Nihilism (from the Latin nihil, nothing) is a philosophical position which argues that the world, especially past and current human existence, is without objective meaning, purpose, comprehensible truth, or essential value. ...
This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ...
This article is about the philosophical movement. ...
Platonic idealism is the theory that the substantive reality around us is only a reflection of a higher truth. ...
// Positivism is a philosophy developed by Auguste Comte (widely regarded as the first true sociologist) in the middle of the 19th century that stated that the only authentic knowledge is scientific knowledge, and that such knowledge can only come from positive affirmation of theories through strict scientific method. ...
Postmodern philosophy is an eclectic and elusive movement characterized by its criticism of Western philosophy. ...
Post-structuralism is a body of work that followed in the wake of structuralism, and sought to understand the Western world as a network of structures, as in structuralism, but in which such structures are ordered primarily by local, shifting differences (as in deconstruction) rather than grand binary oppositions and...
Pragmatism is a school of epistemology that originated with Charles Sanders Peirce (who first stated the pragmatic maxim) and came to fruition in the early twentieth-century philosophies of William James and John Dewey. ...
The Pre-Socratic philosophers were active before Socrates or contemporaneously, but expounding knowledge developed earlier. ...
In epistemology and in its broadest sense, rationalism is any view appealing to reason as a source of knowledge or justification (Lacey 286). ...
Contemporary philosophical realism is the belief in and allegiance to a reality that exists independently of observers. ...
Compare Moral relativism, Aesthetic relativism, Social constructionism and Cultural relativism. ...
Scholasticism comes from the Latin word scholasticus, which means that [which] belongs to the school, and is the school of philosophy taught by the academics (or schoolmen) of medieval universities circa 1100â1500. ...
Philosophical skepticism (UK spelling, scepticism) is both a philosophical school of thought and a method that crosses disciplines and cultures. ...
A restored Stoa in Athens. ...
Structuralism as a term refers to various theories across the humanities, social sciences and economics many of which share the assumption that structural relationships between concepts vary between different cultures/languages and that these relationships can be usefully exposed and explored. ...
Utilitarianism (1861), see Utilitarianism (book). ...
This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...
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