Reduction, Emergence, and the Mind/Body Problem: A Philosophic Overview
Evolution and Emergence April 5, 2007 DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780199204717.003.0003 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Key points | Argues that nonreductive physicalism is the prevailing view, combining explanatory pluralism with a physicalist metaphysics, and that emergence and reduction are central interrelated concepts in the philosophy of mind. |
Abstract
Abstract My aim in this chapter is to give an overview of the recent discussion in the philosophy of mind that will serve as a map in locating issues and options. I will focus in particular on three central and interrelated ideas: those of emergence, reduction, and nonreductive physicalism. The third of these, which has emerged as more or less the majority view among current philosophers of mind, combines a pluralist view about the diversity of what needs to be explained by science with an underlying metaphysical commitment to the physical as the ultimate basis of all that is real.