Single Idea 3359

[catalogued under 17. Mind and Body / A. Mind-Body Dualism / 8. Dualism of Mind Critique]

Full Idea

Its inability to explain the possibility of "mental causation" doomed Cartesian dualism.

Clarification

'Mental causation' is when physical events are affected by conscious thought

Gist of Idea

Cartesian dualism fails because it can't explain mental causation

Source

Jaegwon Kim (Philosophy of Mind [1996], p. 4)

Book Reference

Kim,Jaegwon: 'Philosophy of Mind' [Westview 1998], p.4


A Reaction

This is a modern way of stating the interaction problem. Personally I am inclined to think that dualism was doomed by the spread of the scientific materialist view to every other corner of our knowledge except the mind. Plenty of causes baffle us.