Combining Texts

Ideas for 'fragments/reports', 'Rationality and Logic' and 'Mind in a Physical World'

unexpand these ideas     |    start again     |     choose another area for these texts

display all the ideas for this combination of texts

4 ideas

7. Existence / C. Structure of Existence / 2. Reduction
2317 Reductionism is good on light, genes, temperature and transparency [Kim, by PG]
     Full Idea: Examples where reductionism seems to give a good account of things are light, genes, temperature and transparency.
     From: report of Jaegwon Kim (Mind in a Physical World [1998], §1 p.025) by PG - Db (ideas)
     A reaction: This a fairly simple examples, thoroughly confirmed by science a long time ago. Life is a nicer example, because it is more complex and less obvious, but pretty much beyond dispute these days.
7. Existence / C. Structure of Existence / 5. Supervenience / a. Nature of supervenience
2310 Supervenience is linked to dependence [Kim]
     Full Idea: It is customary to associate supervenience with the idea of dependence or determination.
     From: Jaegwon Kim (Mind in a Physical World [1998], §1 p.011)
     A reaction: It is only 'customary' because, in principle, the supervenience might just be a coincidence. I might follow someone everywhere because I love them (dependence) or because they force me to (determination). There's always a reason.
7. Existence / C. Structure of Existence / 5. Supervenience / b. Types of supervenience
2315 Mereological supervenience says wholes are fixed by parts [Kim]
     Full Idea: Mereological supervenience is the doctrine that wholes are fixed by the properties and relations that characterise their parts.
     From: Jaegwon Kim (Mind in a Physical World [1998], §1 p.018)
     A reaction: Presumably this would be the opposite of 'holism'. Personally I would take mereological supervenience to be not merely correct, but to be metaphysically necessary. Don't ask me to prove it, of course.
11055 Supervenience can add covariation, upward dependence, and nomological connection [Hanna]
     Full Idea: 'Strong supervenience' involves necessary covariation of the properties, and upward dependence of higher level on lower level. ...If we add a nomological connection between the two, then we have 'superdupervenience'.
     From: Robert Hanna (Rationality and Logic [2006], 1.2)
     A reaction: [compressed] Very helpful. A superdupervenient relationship between mind and brain would be rather baffling if they were not essentially the same thing. (which is what I take them to be).