Philosophical Studies, volume 178, issue 5, pages 1529-1544
Physicalism without supervenience
Lei Zhong
1
Publication type: Journal Article
Publication date: 2020-06-19
Journal:
Philosophical Studies
scimago Q1
SJR: 1.203
CiteScore: 2.6
Impact factor: 1.1
ISSN: 00318116, 15730883, 05540739
Philosophy
Abstract
It is widely accepted that supervenience is a minimal commitment of physicalism. In this article, however, I aim to argue that physicalism should be exempted from the supervenience requirement. My arguments rely on a parallel between ontological dependence and causal dependence. Since causal dependence does not require causal determination, ontological dependence should not require ontological determination either. Moreover, my approach has a significant theoretical advantage: if physicalism is not committed to supervenience, then the metaphysical possibility of zombies—which is still wide open after all these years—would pose no challenge to physicalism.
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