Definitions > Non-materialist physicalism
Materialism is a form of philosophical monism that holds that matter is the fundamental substance in nature, and that all things, including mental states and consciousness, are results of material interactions. In Materialism, matter is considered non-phenomenal “stuff”. In Materialism, matter is considered non sentient, non experiential, non conscious.
Physicalism is the idea that the natural world is exhaustively described by the equations of physics and their solutions.
Non-materialist physicalism states that Physicalism is true and Materialism false.
Physicalistic idealism can be considered one particular but paradigmatic case of Non-materialist Physicalism. Sometimes the terms Physicalistic idealism and Non-materialist Physicalism are considered synonymous.
Jump to Physicalistic idealism to know more.
Physicalistic idealism is the non-materialist physicalist claim that reality is fundamentally experiential and that the natural world is exhaustively described by the equations of physics and their solutions.
“Physicalism” is sometimes treated as the formalistic claim that the natural world is exhaustively described by the equations of physics and their solutions. Beyond these structural-relational properties of matter and energy, the term “physicalism” is also often used to make an ontological claim about the intrinsic character of whatever the equations describe. This intrinsic character, or metaphysical essence, is typically assumed to be non-phenomenal. “Strawsonian physicalists” (cf. “Consciousness and Its Place in Nature: Does Physicalism Entail Panpsychism?”) and other non-materialist physicalists dispute any such assumption. Traditional reductive physicalism proposes that the properties of larger entities are determined by properties of their physical parts. If the wavefunction monism of post-Everett quantum mechanics assumed here is true, then the world does not contain discrete physical parts as understood by classical physics. If contemporary physicalism is true, reductionism is false.
Source:
- Non-materialist physicalism: an experimentally testable conjecture.
- “The Physical” and Consciousness: One World Conforming to Different Descriptions
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