Single Idea 6986

[catalogued under 17. Mind and Body / E. Mind as Physical / 2. Reduction of Mind]

Full Idea

Should the necessary passage from the physical account of the world to the psychological one that physicalists are committed to, be placed in the a posteriori or the a priori basket?

Gist of Idea

Is the dependence of the psychological on the physical a priori or a posteriori?

Source

Frank Jackson (From Metaphysics to Ethics [1998], Ch.3)

Book Reference

Jackson,Frank: 'From Metaphysics to Ethics' [OUP 2000], p.68


A Reaction

That is, is 'the physical entails the mental' empirical or a priori? See Idea 3989. If we can at least dream of substance dualism, it is hard to see how it could be fully a priori. I think I prefer to see it as an inductive explanation.

Related Idea

Idea 3989 I am a reductionist about mind because I am an a priori reductionist about everything [Lewis]