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Questioning the Causal Inheritance Principle

Hannikainen, Ivar (2010) Questioning the Causal Inheritance Principle. THEORIA. An International Journal for Theory, History and Foundations of Science, 25 (3). pp. 261-277. ISSN 2171-679X

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Abstract

Mental causation, though a forceful intuition embedded in our commonsense psychology, is difficult to square with the rest of commitments of physicalism about the mind. Advocates of mental causation have found solace in the causal inheritance principle, according to which the mental properties of mental states share the causal powers of their physical counterparts. In this paper, I present a variety of counterarguments to causal inheritance and conclude that the conditions for causal inheritance are stricter than what standing versions of said principle imply. In line with this, physicalism may be destined to epiphenomenalism unless multiple realizability turns out false.


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Item Type: Published Article or Volume
Creators:
CreatorsEmailORCID
Hannikainen, Ivarivar.hannikainen@gmail.com
Additional Information: ISSN: 0495-4548 (print)
Keywords: causal exclusion problem; epiphenomenalism; Jaegwon Kim; mental causation; multiple realizability; Derk Pereboom
Depositing User: Users 15304 not found.
Date Deposited: 04 Feb 2014 23:38
Last Modified: 04 Feb 2014 23:38
Item ID: 10304
Journal or Publication Title: THEORIA. An International Journal for Theory, History and Foundations of Science
Publisher: Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea / Universidad del País Vasco
Official URL: http://www.ehu.es/ojs/index.php/THEORIA/article/vi...
DOI or Unique Handle: 10.1387/theoria.798
Date: September 2010
Page Range: pp. 261-277
Volume: 25
Number: 3
ISSN: 2171-679X
URI: https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/10304

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