Dualism and Exclusion

Erkenntnis 86 (3):543-552 (2021)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

Many philosophers argue that exclusion arguments cannot exclude non-reductionist physicalist mental properties from being causes without excluding properties that are patently causal as well. List and Stoljar (2017) recently argued that a similar response to exclusion arguments is also available to dualists, thereby challenging the predominant view that exclusion arguments undermine dualist theories of mind. In particular, List and Stoljar maintain that exclusion arguments against dualism require a premise that states that, if a property is metaphysically distinct from the sufficient cause of an effect, this property cannot be a cause of that effect. I argue that this premise is indeed likely to exclude patently causal properties, but that exclusion arguments against dualism do not require this premise. The relation that enables metaphysically distinct properties to cause the same effect in the relevant way turns out to be tighter than the relation typically posited between dualist conscious properties and their underlying physical properties. It is therefore still plausible that the latter causally exclude the former and that compelling exclusion arguments against dualism can be formulated by using a weaker exclusion premise. I conclude by proposing such a formulation.

Similar books and articles

Does the Exclusion Argument Put Any Pressure on Dualism?Christian List & Daniel Stoljar - 2017 - Australasian Journal of Philosophy 95 (1):96-108.
An exclusion problem for epiphenomenalist dualism.Bradford Saad - 2020 - Thought: A Journal of Philosophy 9 (4):247-256.
Does the exclusion argument put any pressure on dualism.Daniel Stoljar & Christian List - 2017 - Australasian Journal of Philosophy 95 (1):96-108.
Minds, Causes and the Exclusion Argument.Edward Thomas Cox - 2000 - Dissertation, The University of Oklahoma
Interventionism and Causal Exclusion.James Woodward - 2015 - Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 91 (2):303-347.
Metaphysical necessity dualism.Ben White - 2018 - Synthese 195 (4):1779-1798.
Exclusion, overdetermination, and the nature of causation.Thomas D. Bontly - 2005 - Journal of Philosophical Research 30:261-282.
Causal exclusion and the limits of proportionality.Neil McDonnell - 2017 - Philosophical Studies 174 (6):1459-1474.
Excluding exclusion: The natural(istic) dualist approach. Istv - 2008 - Philosophical Explorations 11 (1):67 – 78.
Excluding exclusion: the natural(istic) dualist approach.István Aranyosi - 2008 - Philosophical Explorations 11 (1):67-78.
Causal exclusion and overdetermination.Markus E. Schlosser - 2006 - In E. Di Nucci & J. McHugh (eds.), Content, Consciousness and Perception. Cambridge Scholars Press.

Analytics

Added to PP
2019-03-21

Downloads
373 (#41,787)

6 months
71 (#37,957)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author's Profile

Bram Vaassen
Umeå University

Citations of this work

Halfway Proportionality.Bram Vaassen - 2022 - Philosophical Studies (9):1-21.
Mental Causation for Standard Dualists.Bram Vaassen - forthcoming - Australasian Journal of Philosophy.
An equivocation in the simple argument for downward causation.Matthew Rellihan - 2021 - Thought: A Journal of Philosophy 10 (4):249-256.

View all 6 citations / Add more citations

References found in this work

Mental causation.Stephen Yablo - 1992 - Philosophical Review 101 (2):245-280.
Causation.D. Lewis - 1973 - In Philosophical Papers Ii. Oxford University Press. pp. 159-213.
Exclusion again.Karen Bennett - 2008 - In Jakob Hohwy & Jesper Kallestrup (eds.), Being Reduced: New Essays on Reduction, Explanation, and Causation. Oxford University Press. pp. 280--307.
Do causal powers drain away.Ned Block - 2003 - Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 67 (1):133-150.
7 The Myth of Nonreductive Materialism.Jaegwon Kim - 1989 - In Paul K. Moser & J. D. Trout (eds.), Contemporary Materialism: A Reader. Routledge. pp. 133.

View all 16 references / Add more references