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Fundamentality and the mind-body problem

Goff, P.

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Abstract

In the recent metaphysics literature, a number of philosophers have independently endeavoured to marry sparse ontology to abundant truth. The aim is to keep ontological commitments minimal, whilst allowing true sentences to quantify over a vastly greater range of entities than those which they are ontologically committed to. For example, an ontological commitment only to concrete, microscopic simples might be conjoined with a commitment to truths such as ‘There are twenty people working in this building’ and ‘There are prime numbers greater than 5.’ I argue that a significant challenge to this project comes from the philosophy of mind. As Theodore Sider has pointed out, anti-physicalism is consistent with a sparse ontology. However, I will try to show that the premises of the standard anti-physicalist arguments can be used to form an argument to the conclusion that sentences which quantify over subjects of experience ontologically commit us to subjects of experience. Truths about consciousness cannot be bought more cheaply than their superficial grammar suggests.

Citation

Goff, P. (2016). Fundamentality and the mind-body problem. Erkenntnis, 8(4), 881-898. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10670-015-9773-7

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Sep 22, 2015
Online Publication Date Jan 27, 2016
Publication Date Jan 27, 2016
Deposit Date Oct 23, 2018
Publicly Available Date Mar 28, 2024
Journal Erkenntnis
Print ISSN 0165-0106
Electronic ISSN 1572-8420
Publisher Springer
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 8
Issue 4
Pages 881-898
DOI https://doi.org/10.1007/s10670-015-9773-7

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