Physics of the Human Mind by Ihor Lubashevsky

Author:Ihor Lubashevsky
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Springer International Publishing, Cham

5.3.2 Physical and Non-physical

Dualistic points of view discussed above operate with the categories of physical and non-physical (mental) opposing them to each other. If in this context we use the notions of consciousness, feeling, willing, etc. the difference between physical or non-physical is rather apparent, these notions are the characteristic features of the mental (non-physical) and are not applicable to the physical. However, in order to understand how the physical and non-physical can be interrelated other criteria are required. They should be applicable to both of them in classifying various objects into the given categories. Finding these criteria is a challenging problem of modern physics and philosophy of mind. In particular, these criteria are in the focus of physicalism.

As noted before I support a certain kind of dualism opposing the physical to the mental, but in my account criteria discriminating physical from non-physical on their own also play an essential role. These criteria should not draw distinction between physical and non-physical in psychological terms (consciousness, feeling, willing, etc.), for this reason physicalistic concepts are interesting for our analysis.

The gist of physicalism is the thesis that everything is ultimately physical. However, this proposition is rather vague and physicalists to clarify its meaning raise, in particular, the following fundamental questions (e.g., Stoljar 2015): What does it mean that everything is ultimately physical?

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