A Novel Argument Against Identity Theories
Quote:Many of us sense that there is a conceptual obstacle to physicalism being true. It strikes us that there is something about the concept of pain that precludes pain turning out to be identical with C-fibre firing, say. The conceivability arguments of Kripke, Chalmers, etc. are an attempt to refine this somewhat inchoate sense of there being such a conceptual obstacle into a cogent argument. In this paper, I outline an alternative line of argument against physicalism. This alternative argument also aims to show that there is a conceptual obstacle to physicalism being true, but it is a...
'Historically, we may regard materialism as a system of dogma set up to combat orthodox dogma...Accordingly we find that, as ancient orthodoxies disintegrate, materialism more and more gives way to scepticism.'
- Bertrand Russell
- Bertrand Russell