In defense of epiphenomenalism

Lyons, J. C. (2006) In defense of epiphenomenalism. Philosophical Psychology, 19(6), pp. 767-794. (doi: 10.1080/09515080601001861)

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Abstract

Recent worries about possible epiphenomenalist consequences of nonreductive physicalism are misplaced, not, as many have argued, because nonreductive physicalism does not imply epiphenomenalism but because the epiphenomenalist implication is actually a virtue of the theory, rather than a vice. It is only by showing how certain kinds of mental properties are causally impotent that cognitive scientific explanations of mentality as we know them are possible.

Item Type:Articles
Status:Published
Refereed:Yes
Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID:Lyons, Professor Jack
Authors: Lyons, J. C.
College/School:College of Arts & Humanities > School of Humanities > Philosophy
Journal Name:Philosophical Psychology
Publisher:Taylor & Francis
ISSN:0951-5089
ISSN (Online):1465-394X
Published Online:23 November 2006

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