4.1.2.4 Critiques of Physicalism

• Match the view with its definition:

  Dualism ↔️ Mind and body are separate substances

  Idealism ↔️ Only mental states exist

  Emergentism ↔️ Mental states emerge from physical states but are not reducible to them
• Qualia represent the unique, personal qualities of subjective experiences
• Critics argue that physicalist accounts fully capture the subjective nature of intentionality.

  False
• The explanatory gap refers to the inability to fully bridge the gap between physical and subjective experiences.


  True
• The explanatory gap highlights the inability to bridge the gap between physical and subjective experiences
• Match the critique of physicalism with its key concept:

  Hard Problem of Consciousness ↔️ Phenomenal experience

  Explanatory Gap ↔️ Subjective experience

  Qualia Argument ↔️ Unique qualities
• Match the physicalist theory with its explanation of intentionality:

  Causal-Informational Theory ↔️ Causal connection

  Teleological Theory ↔️ Tracking function

  Conceptual Role Theory ↔️ Inferential connections
• The explanatory gap remains a persistent challenge for reducing mental states to physical states.

  True
• Physicalism believes that mental states are non-physical substances separate from the brain.

  False
• What is the hard problem of consciousness concerned with?

  Phenomenal experiences from physical processes
• What does the explanatory gap highlight?

  Inability to bridge physical and subjective
• What does the causal-informational theory propose about intentionality?

  Mental states represent things causally
• What is the central claim of identity theory regarding mental states?

  Mental states are brain states
• What are the three primary criteria used to determine personal identity?

  Physical, psychological, narrative
• Which criterion of personal identity emphasizes the role of self-narrative in shaping identity?

  Narrative identity
• Quantum indeterminacy introduces non-deterministic, non-physical causes at the fundamental level of physical reality
• The challenges to causal closure suggest that the physical world may not be causally closed.


  True
• Physicalism posits that mental states are entirely composed of physical processes in the brain.


  True
• What is the hard problem of consciousness, as a critique of physicalism?

  How phenomenal experiences arise from physical processes
• Intentionality refers to the directedness or "aboutness" of mental states.

  True
• Critics argue that physicalist explanations of intentionality fail to capture its qualitative, subjective nature.


  True
• One of the central challenges for physicalism is demonstrating that mental states can be reduced to physical properties.reduced
• What is the explanatory gap between mental and physical states?

  Difficulty bridging mental and physical states
• Psychological continuity emphasizes the role of memories in maintaining personal identity.

  True
• Downward causation violates the causal closure of the physical by suggesting that mental states can causally influence physical states.mental
• What fundamental challenges do qualia and the explanatory gap pose to physicalism?

  Inability to fully account for the mind
• Match the philosophical view with its definition:

  Physicalism ↔️ All facts are physical facts, mental states can be reduced to physical states

  Dualism ↔️ Mind and body are separate, non-physical and physical substances
• Physicalism is the view that all facts are physical
• Qualia can be fully captured by reductive explanations under physicalism.

  False
• The main critiques of physicalism challenge its ability to account for subjective experience.
• The hard problem of consciousness questions how phenomenal experiences arise from physical processes
• Critics argue that physicalist explanations fail to capture the subjective nature of intentionality.

  True
• What is one of the central challenges for physicalism regarding mental states?

  Reducing them to physical properties
• What does the concept of personal identity address?

  Uniqueness and persistence over time
• Physicalism holds that mental states can be reduced to physical states
• Qualia refers to the unique, personal qualities of subjective experiences
• The qualia argument emphasizes that subjective experiences cannot be fully captured by physical descriptions
• The conceptual role theory suggests that mental states gain their aboutness from their role in a network of beliefs and concepts
• Eliminative materialism suggests that mental states can be replaced by physical explanations
• Physical continuity maintains that personal identity depends on the continuous existence of the same body

  True