Nonreducibility: Philosophy Forums

Nonreducibility

loosebruce
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Posted 05/19/09 - 05:34 PM: Subject: Nonreducibility	#1
What is the connection between the non-reducibility of consciousness and ontological kinds? I agree with you that facts about consciousness don't supervene on facts about the physical, but it seems like that just means we have two different ways of talking about the same thing, not that there are two different types of stuff there. Something like "The Supreme Court is in the Judicial Branch" has nothing to do with the physical facts about Washington, DC, but that doesn't force us to say there is some extra stuff there that is referenced by "Supreme Court" and "Judicial Branch." I think I could even imagine an alternate physically-identical Washington, DC that didn't have a Supreme Court or a Judicial Branch. All that has to be explained is that Americans have a social practice of talking about a government composed of three branches and another practice of talking about molecules and gravity.

davidchalmers
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Posted 05/21/09 - 08:56 PM:	#2
Hi -- I take it you're articulating the view that while there is a conceptual gap or an epistemological gap between the physical and phenomenal domains, there is no ontological gap. I've written a lot addressing that view. Basically, I think that one can make certain carefully constrained inferences from epistemic gaps to ontological gaps. The section on "type-B materialism" in "Consciousness and its Place in Nature" has a sort of overview discussion. More technically, my use of the two-dimensional semantic apparatus (see e.g. "The Two-Dimensional Argument against Materialism") is designed to address this issue.

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