more from John Heil

Single Idea 4590

[catalogued under 17. Mind and Body / A. Mind-Body Dualism / 2. Interactionism]

Full Idea

If causal relations boil down to nothing more than regularities (as Hume suggests), then it is a mistake to regard the absence of a mechanism or causal link between mental events and material events as a special problem.

Gist of Idea

If causation is just regularities in events, the interaction of mind and body is not a special problem

Source

John Heil (Philosophy of Mind [1998], Ch.2)

Book Reference

Heil,John: 'Philosophy of Mind' [Routledge 1998], p.30


A Reaction

So critics of Descartes who were baffled by interaction, were actually sniffing Hume's wholesale scepticism about necessary causation. Even so, physical conjunction is more tangible than spiritual conjunction.