Physical Realization

by Sydney Shoemaker

Overview

In Physical Realization, Sydney Shoemaker considers the question of how physicalism can be true: how can all facts about the world, including mental ones, be constituted by facts about the distribution in the world of physical properties? Physicalism requires that the mental properties of a person are 'realized in' the physical properties of that person, and that all instantiations of properties in macroscopic objects are realized in microphysical states of affairs. Shoemaker offers an account of both these sorts of realization, one which allows the realized properties to be causally efficacious. He also explores the implications of this account for a wide range of metaphysical issues, including the nature of persistence through time, the problem of material constitution, the possibility of emergent properties, and the nature of phenomenal consciousness.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780191526824
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	07/19/2007
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	342 KB

About the Author

Sydney Shoemaker is Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at Cornell University.

Table of Contents

Preface ix

1 Introduction 1

2 Property Realization 10

3 Microrealization 32

4 Functional Properties, Emergent, Properties, and Phony Properties 55

5 Metaphysical Applications 88

6 Realization of Qualia 115

Appendix: The Causal Theory of Properties 142

References 145

Index 149

Editorial Reviews

"This is an admirably ambitious book.... there is much in the book that I find attractive and of value...."—Brian P. McLaughlin, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews

"There is a wealth of philosophical exploration and argumentation in these chapters. Whether or not the reader agrees with Shoemaker's account of realization, one is forced by the later chapters to consider how one's own account fairs across such a broad range of issues. Such an exercise is of clear value to any philosopher interested in these topics and so I recommend this book to all such philosophers." — Philosophical Quarterly

From the Publisher