Single Idea 3396

[catalogued under 15. Nature of Minds / A. Nature of Mind / 3. Mental Causation]

Full Idea

Experimentation presupposes mental-to-physical causation and is impossible without it.

Gist of Idea

Experiment requires mental causation

Source

Jaegwon Kim (Philosophy of Mind [1996], p.128)

Book Reference

Kim,Jaegwon: 'Philosophy of Mind' [Westview 1998], p.128


A Reaction

So an epiphenomenalist can't do experiments? Kim implies that there is some special mental assessment of the feedback from physical events, but presumably a robot or a zombie could do experiments. Spiders do experiments.