Hempel's Dilemma and domains of physics

Analysis 71 (4):646-651 (2011)
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Abstract

Hempel's Dilemma is the claim that physicalism is an ill-formed thesis because it can offer no account of the physics that it refers to: current physics will be discarded in the future, and we don't yet know the nature of future physics. This article confronts the first horn of the dilemma, and argues that our knowledge of current physics is sufficient for offering a physicalist ontology of the mind. We have good scientific evidence that future physics will be irrelevant to the mind-body problem because mental processes lie safely within the well-understood domains of applicability of current physical theories

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Peter Bokulich
University of Notre Dame

Citations of this work

Physicalism.Justin Tiehen - 2018 - Analysis 78 (3):537-551.
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Hempel’s Dilemma: Not Only for Physicalism.Erez Firt, Meir Hemmo & Orly Shenker - 2021 - International Studies in the Philosophy of Science 34 (2):101-129.
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References found in this work

Thinking About Consciousness.David Papineau - 2002 - Oxford, GB: Oxford University Press UK.
Thinking about Consciousness.David Papineau - 2002 - Philosophical Quarterly 54 (215):333-335.
Thinking about Consciousness.Diana Raffman - 2005 - Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 71 (1):171-186.
On characterizing the physical.Jessica Wilson - 2006 - Philosophical Studies 131 (1):61-99.
The body problem.Barbara Montero - 1999 - Noûs 33 (2):183-200.

View all 7 references / Add more references