Grounding Causal Closure or Something Near Enough

A causal argument for physicalism is widely held to pose a problem for dualism. This view has an unobvious presupposition, namely that the causal closure of the physical has a special sort of ground. The requisite sort of ground must distinguish the causal argument for physicalism from many defective causal arguments. On behalf of physicalists, I develop an account of the ground for the causal closure of the physical, thereby putting the causal argument for physicalism back in the business of causally problematizing dualism. One consequence of my account is that physicalists can pose a causal problem for dualism using a much weaker closure premise than is generally assumed.

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Publication Details

Journal
Acta Analytica
Published
2024-12-28
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s12136-024-00620-4
Primary Topic
Epistemology, Ethics, and Metaphysics
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00

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article

Grounding Causal Closure or Something Near Enough

Bradford Saad
Acta Analytica
Epistemology, Ethics, and Metaphysics
article

Grounding Causal Closure or Something Near Enough

Bradford Saad
article en

Abstract

A causal argument for physicalism is widely held to pose a problem for dualism. This view has an unobvious presupposition, namely that the causal closure of the physical has a special sort of ground. The requisite sort of ground must distinguish the causal argument for physicalism from many defective causal arguments. On behalf of physicalists, I develop an account of the ground for the causal closure of the physical, thereby putting the causal argument for physicalism back in the business of causally problematizing dualism. One consequence of my account is that physicalists can pose a causal problem for dualism using a much weaker closure premise than is generally assumed.

Acta AnalyticaVol. 40(3)
University of Oxford (GB)
University of Texas at Austin, European Research Council
Reduced inequalities
Openalex Percentile: Top 59%
Epistemology, Ethics, and Metaphysics
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