LESSWRONG
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Physicalism 201

Aug 24, 2017 by Eliezer Yudkowsky

Can we ever know what it’s like to be a bat? Traditional dualism, with its immaterial souls freely floating around violating physical laws, may be false; but what about the weaker thesis, that consciousness is a “further fact” not fully explainable by the physical facts? A number of philosophers and scientists have found this line of reasoning persuasive. If we feel this argument’s intuitive force, should we grant its conclusion and ditch physicalism?

We certainly shouldn’t reject it just because it sounds strange or feels vaguely unscientific. But how does the argument stand up to a technical understanding of how explanation and belief work? Are there any hints we can take from the history of science, or from our understanding of the physical mechanisms underlying evidence? This is the question that this sequence will attempt to answer.

82Hand vs. Fingers
Eliezer Yudkowsky
17y
94
66Angry Atoms
Eliezer Yudkowsky
17y
59
53Heat vs. Motion
Eliezer Yudkowsky
17y
70
71Brain Breakthrough! It's Made of Neurons!
Eliezer Yudkowsky
17y
30
56When Anthropomorphism Became Stupid
Eliezer Yudkowsky
17y
12
87A Priori
Eliezer Yudkowsky
18y
133
59Reductive Reference
Eliezer Yudkowsky
17y
46
121Zombies! Zombies?
Eliezer Yudkowsky
17y
159
32Zombie Responses
Eliezer Yudkowsky
17y
40
49The Generalized Anti-Zombie Principle
Eliezer Yudkowsky
17y
64
90GAZP vs. GLUT
Eliezer Yudkowsky
17y
169
67Belief in the Implied Invisible
Eliezer Yudkowsky
17y
34
174Zombies: The Movie
Eliezer Yudkowsky
17y
82
80Excluding the Supernatural
Eliezer Yudkowsky
17y
148
47Psychic Powers
Eliezer Yudkowsky
17y
89