An Emergentist Approach to Phenomenal Causality
Lei Zhong
Pacific philosophical quarterly June 1, 2026 DOI: 10.1111/papq.70014 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Key points | Argues for an emergentist approach to phenomenal causality that attributes novel causal powers to phenomenal properties and rejects the causal closure of physics, and proposes a physicalist version of emergentism in which phenomenal properties and their novel causal powers are grounded by noncausal physical properties and facts, challenging the view that emergentism is physicalistically unacceptable. |
Abstract
ABSTRACT: Philosophers have long debated whether phenomenal properties can play genuine causal roles. In this article, I aim to develop an emergentist approach to phenomenal causality, an approach that attributes novel causal powers to phenomenal properties and rejects the causal closure of physics. I also compare this emergentist approach with an influential competing approach to phenomenal causality, the compatibilist account, which postulates a model of causal overdetermination understood broadly. There is a widespread view in the philosophy of mind that emergentism is physicalistically unacceptable (whereas compatibilism is consistent with physicalism). However, the article attempts to challenge this consensus by arguing for a physicalist version of emergentism, according to which phenomenal properties as well as their novel causal powers are grounded by (noncausal) physical properties and facts.