Identity theory : content and implications

Abstract

The thesis Is essentially an attempt to establish a comprehensive theory of consciousness, being and knowable reality that Is fully consistent both with all the analytic arguments that can be brought to bear In formulating such a theory and with the whole of the relevant scientific and other empirical evidence. It Is considered that such a theory would very probably be an extension of the traditional Identity Theory that a 'mental' state Is Identical to a 'physical' state and consequently the analysis Is directed In PART II to recapitulating the analytic case put forward In support of that theory and evaluating the principal such arguments against It. Next, In PART III, elements of the scientific and other empirical evidence that are considered particularly pertinent to the analysis are referred to and evaluated In some depth where this is considered appropriate. Then, in PART IV, the theory derived as an outcome of all the considerations Is explicated as an ontology of consciousness, being and knowable reality. It is designated as the deterministic identity theory on the grounds that determinism and the Identity thesis are found from those considerations to be principal elements of the theory.