[MD] Experience, essentialism, physicalism

[David M]

and does not physics describe the potential which is in no
way physical whilst it remains potential? So that physics
is no longer physicalist.

DM


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Scott Roberts" <jse885 at localnet.com>
To: <moq_discuss at moqtalk.org>
Sent: Monday, March 13, 2006 3:39 AM
Subject: Re: [MD] Experience, essentialism, physicalism


> Larz,
>
> Larz asked:
> What's the definition of "physicalism"?
>
> Scott:
> Rorty defines a 'physicalist' as "someone who is prepared to say that 
> every
> event can be described in micro-structural terms, a description which
> mentions only elementary particles, and can be explained be reference to
> other events of this type."
>
> Wikipedia defines it thusly: "Physicalism is the metaphysical position
> (associated particularly with Quine) that everything is physical; that is,
> that there are no kinds of things other than physical things. Likewise,
> physicalism about the mental is a position in philosophy of mind which 
> holds
> that the mind is a physical thing in some sense. This position is also
> called "materialism", but the term "physicalism" is preferable because it
> does not have any misleading ethical connotations, and because it carries 
> an
> emphasis on the physical, meaning whatever is described ultimately by
> physics -- not just matter but energy and whatever else our best physical
> theories might talk about."
>
> - Scott
>
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