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Single Idea 6992

[filed under theme 17. Mind and Body / E. Mind as Physical / 7. Anti-Physicalism / b. Multiple realisability ]

Full Idea

It would be strange if having learnt the lesson of multiple realisability that the same role may be filled by different states, we turned around and insisted that the converse - different roles filled by the same state - is impossible.

Gist of Idea

If different states can fulfil the same role, the converse must also be possible

Source

Frank Jackson (From Metaphysics to Ethics [1998], Ch.4 n3)

Book Ref

Jackson,Frank: 'From Metaphysics to Ethics' [OUP 2000], p.92


A Reaction

Good. The world is full of creatures who seem to enjoy the smell of decay etc. Some people (not me) like horror films. The separation of qualia and role leaves type-type physicalism as a possibility. Survival needs similar roles, not similar qualia.


The 24 ideas with the same theme [lots of way to implement a thought]:

Neuroscience does not support multiple realisability, and tends to support identity [Polger on Putnam]
If humans and molluscs both feel pain, it can't be a single biological state [Putnam, by Kim]
One mental role might be filled by a variety of physical types [Armstrong]
Multiple realisability was worse news for physicalism than anomalous monism was [Davidson, by Kim]
If mind is multiply realisable, it is possible that anything could realise it [Searle]
If different states can fulfil the same role, the converse must also be possible [Jackson]
Multiple realisation applies to other species, and even one individual over time [Kim]
If physicalists stick with identity (not supervenience), Martian pain will not be like ours [Perry]
A theory must be mixed, to cover qualia without behaviour, and behaviour without qualia [Lewis, by PG]
The materials for a mind only matter because of speed, and a need for transducers and effectors [Dennett]
Physicalism is prejudiced in favour of our neurology, when other systems might have minds [Block]
Lots of physical properties are multiply realisable, so why shouldn't beliefs be? [Fodor]
Most psychological properties seem to be multiply realisable [Fodor]
If a mental state is multiply realisable, why does it lead to similar behaviour? [Papineau]
If mental states are multiply realisable, they could not be translated into physical terms [Kirk,R]
Multiple realisability rules out hidden essences and experts as the source of water- and gold-concepts [McGinn]
A Martian may exhibit human-like behaviour while having very different sensations [Lycan]
Temperature (etc.) is agreed to be reducible, but it is multiply realisable [Chalmers]
Multiple realisability is actually one predicate applying to a diverse range of properties [Heil]
'Multiple realisability' needs to clearly distinguish low-level realisers from what is realised [Heil]
Multiple realisability is not a relation among properties, but an application of predicates to resembling things [Heil]
Consciousness is a process, not a thing, as it maintains unity as its composition changes [Edelman/Tononi]
Maybe a mollusc's brain events for pain ARE of the same type (broadly) as a human's [PG]
Maybe a frog's brain events for fear are functionally like ours, but not phenomenally [PG]