Emergent materialism

Philosophical concept

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
Find sources: "Emergent materialism" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (July 2015) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

|

In the philosophy of mind, emergent (or emergentist) materialism is a theory which asserts that the mind is irreducibly existent in some sense. However, the mind does not exist in the sense of being an ontological simple. Further, the study of mental phenomena is independent of other sciences. The theory primarily maintains that the human mind's evolution is a product of material nature and that it cannot exist without material basis.[1]

## Overview

[edit]

The view holds that mental properties emerge as novel properties of complex material systems.[2] These are conceptually irreducible as physical properties of the complexes that have them.[3] The theory, however, states that the mind is independent due to the causal influences between body and mind.[1] This is described as a "primitive relation" that is grounded in or dependent on the physical, but with metaphysical necessity.[4]

Emergent materialism can be divided into emergence which denies mental causation and emergence which allows for causal effect. A version of the latter type has been advocated by John R. Searle, called biological naturalism.

The other main group of materialist views in the philosophy of mind can be labeled non-emergent (or non-emergentist) materialism, and includes pure physicalism (eliminative materialism), identity theory (reductive materialism),[2] philosophical behaviorism, and functionalism.

## See also

[edit]

* Cartesian dualism
* Emergentism
* Emergence
* Epiphenomenalism
* Materialism
* Mind–body problem
* Monism
* Physicalism

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b Revonsuo, Antti; Kamppinen, Matti (2013). Consciousness in Philosophy and Cognitive Neuroscience. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc., Publishers. p. 38\. ISBN 9781134783021.
2. ^ a b Martinich, A. P.; Sosa, E. David (2008). A Companion to Analytic Philosophy. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing. p. 65\. ISBN 978-0631214151.
3. ^ Stich, Stephen P.; Warfield, Ted A. (2008). The Blackwell Guide to Philosophy of Mind. Malden, MA: John Wiley & Sons. p. 18\. ISBN 978-0631217749.
4. ^ Sprevak, M.; Kallestrup, J. (2014). New Waves in Philosophy of Mind. London: Palgrave Macmillan. p. 158\. ISBN 9781137286710.

## External links

[edit]

* M.D. Robertson, Dualism vs. Materialism: A Response to Paul Churchland

* v
* t
* e

Philosophy of mind

Philosophers|

* G. E. M. Anscombe
* Aristotle
* Armstrong
* Thomas Aquinas
* J. L. Austin
* Alexander Bain
* George Berkeley
* Henri Bergson
* Ned Block
* Franz Brentano
* C. D. Broad
* Tyler Burge
* David Chalmers
* Patricia Churchland
* Paul Churchland
* Andy Clark
* Dharmakirti
* Donald Davidson
* Daniel Dennett
* René Descartes
* Fred Dretske
* Fodor
* Goldman
* Martin Heidegger
* David Hume
* Edmund Husserl
* William James
* Frank Cameron Jackson
* Immanuel Kant
* David Lewis (philosopher)
* John Locke
* Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz
* Maurice Merleau-Ponty
* Marvin Minsky
* Thomas Nagel
* Alva Noë
* Derek Parfit
* Plato
* Hilary Putnam
* Richard Rorty
* Gilbert Ryle
* John Searle
* Wilfrid Sellars
* Baruch Spinoza
* Alan Turing
* Michael Tye
* Vasubandhu
* Ludwig Wittgenstein
* Stephen Yablo
* Zhuangzi
* more...

Theories|

* Behaviorism
* Biological naturalism
* Dualism
* Eliminative materialism
* Emergent materialism
* Epiphenomenalism
* Functionalism
* Interactionism
* Naïve realism
* Neurophenomenology
* Neutral monism
* New mysterianism
* Nondualism
* Occasionalism
* Parallelism
* Phenomenalism
* Phenomenology
* Physicalism
* Type physicalism
* Property dualism
* Representational
* Solipsism
* Substance dualism

Concepts|

* Abstract object
* Animal machine
* Chinese room
* Creativity
* Cognition
* Cognitive closure
* Concept
* Consciousness
* Hard problem of consciousness
* Hypostatic abstraction
* Idea
* Identity
* Intelligence
* Artificial
* Human
* Intentionality
* Introspection
* Intuition
* Language of thought
* Mental event
* Mental image
* Mental process
* Mental property
* Mental representation
* Mind
* Mind–body problem
* Pain
* Problem of other minds
* Propositional attitude
* Qualia
* Tabula rasa
* Understanding
* Zombie

Related|

* Metaphysics
* Philosophy of artificial intelligence / information / perception / self

* Category
* Philosophers category
* Project
* Task Force

This philosophy-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

|

* v
* t
* e

*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template