Metaphysics of Consciousness - 9781138009295

Taylor & Francis

Assesses the problem of upholding even a minimal physicalism which leads to the conclusion that either a new conception of how consciousness is physical is needed or a disturbing new kind of physical inexplicability. > \nMetaphysics of Consciousness opens with a development of the physicalist outlook that denies the need for any explanation of the mental. This \""inexplicability\"" is demonstrated not to be sufficient as refutation of physicalism. However, the inescapable particularity of modes of consciousness appears to overpower this minimal physicalism. This book proposes that such an inference requires either a wholly new conception of how consciousness is physical or a deep and disturbing new kind of physical inexplicability. > Part 1 The Retreat of Physicalism; Chapter 1 Physicalism, Ontology and Explanation; Chapter 2 Positive Reductive Strategies; Chapter 3 Negative Reductive Strategies; Part 2 The Problem of Consciousness; Chapter 4 Varieties of Supervenience; Chapter 5t