Mind-Body Causation and Explanatory Practice

Abstract

Abstract In recent years a number of philosophers have worried about whether we can reasonably believe that mental properties are causally efficacious. They are concerned whether the intentional ‘aspects’ or qualitative ‘aspects’ of mental events are epiphenomenal-that is, lacking in causal power and irrelevant to causal transactions. They typically assume that mental events themselves are causes. But this is supposed to be ensured by the prior assumption that mental events are physical events. Individual mental events are assumed to be instantiations or tokens of physical event-kinds. The doubt is whether the mental ‘aspects’ of these states and events play any significant role in causal processes.