Single Idea 3964

[catalogued under 17. Mind and Body / D. Property Dualism / 1. Reductionism critique]

Full Idea

If there are no strict psychophysical laws, this rules out reductionism, either by definition of mental predicates in physical terms, or by way of bridging laws.

Clarification

'Reductionism' is the full explanation of the mental in physical terms. An 'anomaly' is a misfit in the current scheme

Gist of Idea

If the mind is an anomaly, this makes reduction of the mental to the physical impossible

Source

Donald Davidson (Davidson on himself [1994], p.231)

Book Reference

'A Companion to the Philosophy of Mind', ed/tr. Guttenplan,Samuel [Blackwell 1995], p.231


A Reaction

But it is by no means clear that there are no psycho-physical laws. How could this be known a priori?