7 - Physicalism

what is physicalism

the theory that everything that exists is physical or depends on something physical

what does physicalism oppose

substance dualism

according to physicalism, all physical events have

sufficient physical causes

mental properties are ______ dependent on other properties

ontologically

what three ways could physicalism be true

elimination, identity, dependent but distinct

what does elimination argue

mental properties don’t exist and our basic concepts are mistaken

what does identity argue

mental properties are just types of physical properties e.g. neurological properties

what does ‘dependent but distinct’ argue

mental properties are distinct from but completely rely on physical properties - they supervene on them

what is supervenience

properties A supervene on properties B in the case that any two things exactly alike in B cannot have different A properties

example of something supervening on something else

aesthetic properties supervene on the physical properties in a painting

physicalism claims that what is physical is _____________

metaphysically fundamental

what are the three basic claims of physicalism

properties identified by physics are ontologically basic, physical laws govern all objects and events in space-time, principle of causal closure