Physicalism, or Something Near Enough: Good Enough to Be a Global Theory?
Physicalism, or Something Near Enough: Good Enough to Be a Global Theory?
Author(s): Janez BregantSubject(s): Philosophy
Published by: KruZak
Keywords: physicalism; Nagel reduction; functional reduction; identity reduction; mental causation; functionalization; qualia
Summary/Abstract: The article critically examines Jaegwon Kim’s book Physicalism, or Some-thing Near Enough (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2005). It recog-nizes the “near enough type of physicalism” involving functional reduction and covering the relational properties of qualia. Its intrinsic qualites are left out, but since it is qualia’s differences and similarities that matter, i.e. which affect our cognition and behaviour, this is, according to Kim, “no big loss”. While appreciating the book’s effort to offer an intelligible physicalis-tic theory of the world, the paper concludes that it fails to do so.
Journal: Croatian Journal of Philosophy
- Issue Year: IX/2009
- Issue No: 26
- Page Range: 219-232
- Page Count: 14
- Language: English
- Content File-PDF