Questions tagged [eliminative-materialism]
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The ultimate absurdity: if consciousness is an illusion, how can anything we know be real?
Epiphenomenalism holds that conscious experience is an ineffectual by-product of brain activities. Eliminationists go further and add that this by-product is an illusion. I was wondering whether ...
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Eliminative materialism eliminates itself - a familiar idea?
Years ago I concluded that eliminative materialism was self-refuting. It seemed a pretty obvious logical point and I was surprised not to find it 'mainstream' in philosophy books and sources. Then I ...
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How do eliminativists and illusionists about consciousness justify use of scientific data?
The data ultimately comes into the scientists brain through his senses. He has to read the device, read the meter... read the computer screen... or something. If consciousness does not exist, or ...
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An argument against neural reductionism based on the necessity of abstract ideas
Reductionism in philosophy of mind is the view that mental phenomena, such as thoughts, emotions, and consciousness, can be reduced to, or explained solely in terms of, the physical or neurobiological ...
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Is metaphysical nominalism essentially eliminativism?
As someone who appreciates William of Occam's eponymous legacy (as I hope most people should, whether they know it by name or not), I was reading more about his life and discovered that his other ...
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A possibly valid argument against eliminativism
I'm posting this despite the fact that I've little or no knowledge in metaphysics. The eliminativists claim that phenomenal consciousness is not "real". Would it help if we notice that phenomenal ...
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Understanding 'existence' and 'being' in debates about ordinary objects
Quine has brought forward his definition of existence: 'To be is to be the value of a bound variable.' But has also taught us that the sciences ultimately determine what actually exists contrary to ...
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Evidence Against Dualism from Neuroscience
In this video, Patricia Churchland announced that the data from neuroscience has made it clear that there is no soul, immaterial mind, or other "spooky stuff." I was wondering if anyone is aware of a ...
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Should scientific realists reject knowledge obtained by psychology?
Psychology wields a fair amount of power in our society - criminals are sentenced or released based on the evidence of psychologists. Employers often rely on psychological tests to determine whether ...
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