TY - JOUR
T1 - The causal exclusion argument
AU - Kallestrup, Jesper
PY - 2006/11/1
Y1 - 2006/11/1
N2 - Jaegwon Kim's causal exclusion argument says that if all physical effects have sufficient physical causes, and no physical effects are caused twice over by distinct physical and mental causes, there cannot be any irreducible mental causes. In addition, Kim has argued that the nonreductive physicalist must give up completeness, and embrace the possibility of downward causation. This paper argues first that this extra argument relies on a principle of property individuation, which the nonreductive physicalist need not accept, and second that once we get clear on overdetermination, there is a way to reject the exclusion principle upon which the causal exclusion argument depends, but third that this should not lead to the belief that mental causation is easily accounted for in terms of counterfactual dependencies.
AB - Jaegwon Kim's causal exclusion argument says that if all physical effects have sufficient physical causes, and no physical effects are caused twice over by distinct physical and mental causes, there cannot be any irreducible mental causes. In addition, Kim has argued that the nonreductive physicalist must give up completeness, and embrace the possibility of downward causation. This paper argues first that this extra argument relies on a principle of property individuation, which the nonreductive physicalist need not accept, and second that once we get clear on overdetermination, there is a way to reject the exclusion principle upon which the causal exclusion argument depends, but third that this should not lead to the belief that mental causation is easily accounted for in terms of counterfactual dependencies.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=33749448284&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s11098-005-1439-x
DO - 10.1007/s11098-005-1439-x
M3 - Review article
AN - SCOPUS:33749448284
SN - 0031-8116
VL - 131
SP - 459
EP - 485
JO - Philosophical Studies
JF - Philosophical Studies
IS - 2
ER -