more from John Perry

Single Idea 4887

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

Full Idea

We try to cause other things to occur by causing mental events to occur.

Gist of Idea

We try to cause other things to occur by causing mental events to occur

Source

John Perry (Knowledge, Possibility and Consciousness [2001], §2.4)

Book Reference

Perry,John: 'Knowledge, Possibility and Consciousness' [MIT 2001], p.38


A Reaction

A small and obvious, but important, point. Mental causation isn't just thoughts leading to physical happenings. Here Perry means that events can be designed to cause thoughts, such as a threatening letter. Not much room for epiphenomenalism here.