Physicalism and its Discontents [Paperback]

A collection of essays by physicalists and their critics on the important doctrine of physicalism, first published in 2001.This collection of new essays offers a series of state-of-the-art perspectives on the important doctrine of physicalism and brings new depth and breadth to the philosophical debate. A group of distinguished philosophers, comprising both physicalists and their critics, consider a wide range of issues including the historical genesis and present justification of physicalism, its metaphysical presuppositions and methodological role, its implications for mental causation, and the account it provides of consciousness.This collection of new essays offers a series of state-of-the-art perspectives on the important doctrine of physicalism and brings new depth and breadth to the philosophical debate. A group of distinguished philosophers, comprising both physicalists and their critics, consider a wide range of issues including the historical genesis and present justification of physicalism, its metaphysical presuppositions and methodological role, its implications for mental causation, and the account it provides of consciousness.Physicalism is the philosophical view that everything in the space-time world is ultimately physical. This collection of new essays offers a series of state-of-the-art perspectives on this important doctrine and brings new depth and breadth to the philosophical debate. A group of distinguished philosophers, comprising both physicalists and their critics, consider a wide range of issues including the historical genesis and present justification of physicalism, its metaphysical presuppositions and methodological role, its implications for mental causation, and the account it provides of consciousness.Contributors; Preface; Part I. Physicalism: 1. The rise of physicalism David Papineau; 2. From physics to physicalism Barry Loewer; 3. Sufficiency claims and physicalism: a formulation D. Gene Witmer; 4. Realization and mentallCx