prikaz prve stranice dokumenta Zombies, the Uniformity of Nature, and Contingent Physicalism: A Sympathetic Response to Boran Berčić
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Scientific paper - Original scientific paper
Zombies, the Uniformity of Nature, and Contingent Physicalism: A Sympathetic Response to Boran Berčić
Prolegomena : časopis za filozofiju, 12 (2013), 2; 245-259. urn:nbn:hr:186:847854
Malatesti, Luca

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Malatesti, L. (2013). Zombies, the Uniformity of Nature, and Contingent Physicalism: A Sympathetic Response to Boran Berčić. Prolegomena : časopis za filozofiju, 12. (2), 245-259. Retrieved from https://urn.nsk.hr/urn:nbn:hr:186:847854

Malatesti, Luca. "Zombies, the Uniformity of Nature, and Contingent Physicalism: A Sympathetic Response to Boran Berčić." Prolegomena : časopis za filozofiju, vol. 12, no. 2, 2013, pp. 245-259. https://urn.nsk.hr/urn:nbn:hr:186:847854

Malatesti, Luca. "Zombies, the Uniformity of Nature, and Contingent Physicalism: A Sympathetic Response to Boran Berčić." Prolegomena : časopis za filozofiju 12, no. 2 (2013): 245-259. https://urn.nsk.hr/urn:nbn:hr:186:847854

Malatesti, L. (2013) 'Zombies, the Uniformity of Nature, and Contingent Physicalism: A Sympathetic Response to Boran Berčić', Prolegomena : časopis za filozofiju, 12(2), pp. 245-259. Available at: https://urn.nsk.hr/urn:nbn:hr:186:847854 (Accessed 08 May 2024)

Malatesti L. Zombies, the Uniformity of Nature, and Contingent Physicalism: A Sympathetic Response to Boran Berčić. Prolegomena : časopis za filozofiju [Internet]. 2013 December 12 [cited 2024 May 08];12(2):245-259. Available at: https://urn.nsk.hr/urn:nbn:hr:186:847854

L. Malatesti, "Zombies, the Uniformity of Nature, and Contingent Physicalism: A Sympathetic Response to Boran Berčić", Prolegomena : časopis za filozofiju, vol. 12, no. 2, pp. 245-259, December 2013. [Online]. Available at: https://urn.nsk.hr/urn:nbn:hr:186:847854. [Accessed: 08 May 2024]

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Title (english)Zombies, the Uniformity of Nature, and Contingent Physicalism: A Sympathetic Response to Boran Berčić
AuthorLuca Malatesti
MBZ: 308096
Author's institutionUniversity of Rijeka
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
(Department of Philosophy)
Scientific / art field,
discipline and subdiscipline		HUMANISTIC SCIENCES
Philosophy
Abstract (english)
Boran Berčić, in the second volume of his recent book "Filozofija" (2012), offers two responses to David Chalmers’s conceivability or modal argument against physicalism. This latter argument aims at showing that zombies, our physical duplicates who lack consciousness, are metaphysically possible, given that they are conceivable. Berčić’s first response is based on the principle of the uniformity of nature that states that causes of a certain type will always cause effects of the same type. His second response is based on the assumption that the basic statements of physicalism in philosophy of mind are or should be contingently true. I argue that if Berčić’s first defence is aimed at the conceivability of zombies, it is unsatisfactory. Moreover, I argue that a quite similar argument, offered by John Perry in his book "Knowledge, Possibility and Consciousness" (2001), is afflicted by a similar problem. Nevertheless, under a more plausible interpretation, Berčić’s argument might be taken to attack the metaphysical possibility of zombies. This version of the argument might be effective and has the merit to point out a so far overlooked link between the discussion of the Chalmers’s conceivability arguments against physicalism and the modal strength of causal links and natural laws. Then, I argue that Berčić’s second defence of physicalism, which cannot be combined consistently with his first one, in any case, should not be formulated in the terms of contingent physicalism.
Keywords (english)
Languageenglish
Publication typeScientific paper - Original scientific paper
Publication statusPublished
Peer reviewPeer review
Publication versionPublished version
Journal titleProlegomena : časopis za filozofiju
Numberingvol. 12, no. 2, pp. 245-259
p-ISSN1333-4395
e-ISSN1846-0593
URN:NBNurn:nbn:hr:186:847854
Publication2013-12-12
Document URLhttp://hrcak.srce.hr/111950
Type of resourceText
Access conditionsOpen access
Terms of useLicence Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) icon
Created on2017-03-16 12:09:22