Property Dualism as a Contemporary Stronghold of Dualism in Philosophy of Mind: A Multidimensional Comparison between Substance Dualism and Property Dualism
Beytulhikme An International Journal of Philosophy January 1, 2023 Mehtap Doğan
In contemporary philosophy of mind, physicalism is the dominant position, but it fails to provide a comprehensive account that explains phenomenal consciousness from an objective standpoint. Increasingly, philosophers reject models that reduce phenomenal qualities of inner experience to physical properties, leading to a resurgence of dualism. This resurgence favors property dualism—which holds that the body has both physical and mental properties—over substance dualism. Anti-physicalist arguments are seen as supporting property dualism, which is also considered a solution to the problems of substance dualism. This work examines whether property dualism offers a stronger alternative to physicalism than substance dualism does, first considering whether objections to physicalism support both property and substance dualism, and then discussing whether property dualism resolves the problems posed by substance dualism.