Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-p9bg8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T02:56:50.142Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Mental causation, compatibilism and counterfactuals

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2020

Dwayne Moore
Dwayne Moore*
Affiliation:
Philosophy Department, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada
*
Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

According to proponents of the causal exclusion problem, there cannot be a sufficient physical cause and a distinct mental cause of the same piece of behaviour. Increasingly, the causal exclusion problem is circumvented via this compatibilist reasoning: a sufficient physical cause of the behavioural effect necessitates the mental cause of the behavioural effect, so the effect has a sufficient physical cause and a mental cause as well. In this paper, I argue that this compatibilist reply fails to resolve the causal exclusion problem.

Keywords

Mental causationnonreductive physicalismcompatibilismcausal exclusioncounterfactuals
Type
Research Article
Information
Canadian Journal of Philosophy , Volume 47 , Issue 1 , 2017 , pp. 20 - 42
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Journal of Philosophy 2016

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Anscombe, E. 1971. Causality and Determination. London: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Arnadottir, S., and Crane, T.. 2013. “There is No Exclusion Problem.” In Mental Causation and Ontology, edited by Gibb, S., and Ingthorsson, R., 248–265. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Audi, P. 2013. “Causation, Coincidence, and Commensuration.” Philosophical Studies 162 (2): 447–464. 10.1007/s11098-011-9776-4CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bennett, K. 2003. “Why the Exclusion Problem Seems Intractable, and How.” Just Maybe, to Tract it’, Noûs 37: 471–471.Google Scholar
Bernstein, S. 2016. “Overdetermination Underdetermined.” Erkenntnis, 81 (1): 17–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bjerring, J. 2014. “On Counterpossibles.” Philosophical Studies 168: 327–353. 10.1007/s11098-013-0133-7CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Block, N. 2003. “Do Causal Powers Drain Away?” Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 67: 133–150. 10.1111/phpr.2003.67.issue-1CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bogardus, T. 2013. “Undefeated Dualism.” Philosophical Studies 165 (2): 445–466.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bontly, T. 2005. “Exclusion, Overdetermination, and the Nature of Causation.” Journal of Philosophical Research 30: 261–282. 10.5840/jpr20053038CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brand, M. 1976. “Introduction: Defining Causes.“ In The Nature of Causation, edited by Brand, M., 1–44. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.Google Scholar
Brand, M., and Swain, M.. 1974. “Causation and necessary and sufficient conditions: Reply to Hilpinen.” Philosophical Studies 25 (5): 357–364. 10.1007/BF00355499CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brogaard, B., and Salerno, J.. 2013. “Remarks on Counterpossibles.” Synthese 190 (4): 639–660. 10.1007/s11229-012-0196-6CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Campbell, S. 2004. Flaws and Fallacies in Statistical Thinking. Mineola, NY: Courier Dover Publications.Google Scholar
Carey, B. 2011. “Overdetermination and The Exclusion Problem”. Australasian Journal of Philosophy 89 2: 251–262. 10.1080/00048401003745993CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Collins, J., Hall, N., and Paul, L.. 2004. “Causation and Counterfactuals.” In Causation and Counterfactuals, edited by Collins, J., Hall, N., and Paul, L. A., 1–59. Cambridge: MIT Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Corry, R. 2013. “Emerging from the Causal Drain.” Philosophical Studies 165 (1): 29–47. 10.1007/s11098-012-9918-3CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crane, T. 1995. “Mental Causation.” Aristotelian Society Supplementary Volume 69: 211–254. 10.1093/aristoteliansupp/69.1.211CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crane, T. 2004. “Summary of Elements of Mind and Replies to Critics.” Croatian Journal of Philosophy 4 (11): 223–240.Google Scholar
Crisp, T., and Warfield, T.. 2001. “Kim’s Master Argument.” Noûs 35: 304–316.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Engelhardt, J. 2012. “Varieties of Multiple Antecedent Cause.” Acta Analytica 27: 231–246. 10.1007/s12136-012-0147-3CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Engelhardt, J. 2015. “What is the Exclusion Problem?” Pacific Philosophical Quarterly 96: 205–232. 10.1111/papq.12063CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Esfeld, M. 2005. “Mental Causation and Mental Properties.” Dialectica 59 (1): 5–18. 10.1111/j.1746-8361.2005.01001.xCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Esfeld, M. 2010. “Causal Overdetermination for Humeans?” Metaphysica 11 (2): 99–104.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fodor, J. 1989. “Making Mind Matter More.” Philosophical Topics 17 (1): 59–79. 10.5840/philtopics198917112CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Foster, J. 1989. “A Defence of Dualism.” In The Case for Dualism, edited by Smythies, J., and Beloff, J.. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press.Google Scholar
Funkhouser, E. 2002. “Three Varieties of Causal Overdetermination.” Pacific Philosophical Quarterly 83: 335–351. 10.1111/papq.2002.83.issue-4CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gibbons, J. 2006. “Mental Causation without Downward Causation.” Philosophical Review 115: 79–103. 10.1215/00318108-115-1-79CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goldman, A. 1969. “The Compatibility of Mechanism and Purpose.” The Philosophical Review 78: 468–482. 10.2307/2184199CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harbecke, J. 2008. Mental Causation. Frankfurt: Ontos Verlag. 10.1515/9783110324846CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harbecke, J. 2013. “Mental Causation and the New Compatibilism.” Abstracta 7 (1): 55–71.Google Scholar
Harbecke, J. 2014. “Counterfactual Causation and Mental Causation.” Philosophia 42 (2): 363–385. 10.1007/s11406-013-9496-4CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Horgan, T. 1997. “Kim on Mental Causation and Causal Exclusion.” Nous Supplement: Philosophical Perspectives 11: 165–184.Google Scholar
Jackson, F. 1982. “Epiphenomenal Qualia.” The Philosophical Quarterly 32 (127): 127–136. 10.2307/2960077CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kallestrup, J. 2006. “The Causal Exclusion Argument.” Philosophical Studies 131: 459–485. 10.1007/s11098-005-1439-xCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kim, J. 1989. “Mechanism, Purpose, and Explanatory Exclusion.” Philosophical Perspectives 3: 77–108. 10.2307/2214264CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kim, J. 1993. Supervenience and Mind. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 10.1017/CBO9780511625220CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kim, J. 2007. “Causation and Mental Causation.” In Contemporary Debates in Philosophy of Mind, edited by McLaughlin, B. P., and Cohen, J. D.. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Kim, J. 1998. Mind in a Physical World. Cambridge: MIT Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kim, J. 2005. Physicalism, or Something Near Enough. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Kim, J. 2006. “Emergence: Core ideas and issues.” Synthese 151: 547–559. 10.1007/s11229-006-9025-0CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kim, J. 2009. “Mental Causation.” In Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Mind, edited by McLaughlin, B., Beckermann, A., and Walter, S., 29–52. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Kroedel, T. 2008. “Mental Causation as Multiple Causation.” Philosophical Studies 139: 125–143. 10.1007/s11098-007-9106-zCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kroedel, T. 2015a. “Dualist Mental Causation and the Exclusion Problem.” Noûs 49 (2): 357–375.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kroedel, T. 2015b. “A Simple Argument for Downward Causation.” Synthese 192 (3): 841–858. 10.1007/s11229-014-0600-5CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kroedel, T., and Schultz, M.. 2016. “Grounding Mental Causation.” Synthese, 193 (6): 1909–1923.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
LePore, E., and Loewer, B.. 1987. “Mind Matters.” Journal of Philosophy 84: 630–642.Google Scholar
Lewis, D. 1973a. “Causation.” The Journal of Philosophy 70: 556–567. 10.2307/2025310CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lewis, D. 1973b. Counterfactuals. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Lewis, D. 1979. “Counterfactual Dependence and Time’s Arrow.” Noûs 13 (4): 455–476. 10.2307/2215339CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lewis, D. 1986. On the Plurality of Worlds. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Lewis, D. 2000. “Causation as Influence.” The Journal of Philosophy 97: 182–197. 10.2307/2678389CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lim, D. 2011. “Exclusion, Overdetermination, and Vacuity.” Southwest Philosophy Review 27 (1): 57–64. 10.5840/swphilreview20112716CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lim, D. 2013. “Why Not Overdetermination?” The Heythrop Journal 54 (4): 668–677. 10.1111/heyj.2013.54.issue-4CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Loewer, B. 2002. “Comments on Jaegwon Kim’s Mind and the Physical World.” Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 65: 655–662. 10.1111/phpr.2002.65.issue-3CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lyons, J. 2006. “In Defense of Epiphenomenalism.” Philosophical Psychology 19: 767–794. 10.1080/09515080601001861CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mackie, J. 1975. “Causes and Conditions.” In Causes and Conditionals, edited by Sosa, E., 245–264. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Malcolm, N. 1968. “The Conceivability of Mechanism.” The Philosophical Review 77: 45–72. 10.2307/2183182CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marc-Wogau, K. 1962. “On Historical Explanation.” Theoria 28 (3): 213–233.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marras, A. 2007. “Kim’s Supervenience Argument and Nonreductive Physicalism.” Erkenntnis 66: 305–327. 10.1007/s10670-006-9023-0CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marras, A., and Yli-Vakuri, J.. 2008. “The Supervenience Argument.” In Tropes, Universals and the Philosophy of Mind, edited by Gozzano, S., and Orilia, F., 101–134. Frankfurt: Ontos Verlag.Google Scholar
Meixner, U. 2008. “New Perspectives for a Dualistic Conception of Mental Causation.” Journal of Consciousness Studies 15: 17–38.Google Scholar
Melnyk, A. 2003. A Physicalist Manifesto. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 10.1017/CBO9780511498817CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mills, E. 1996. “Interactionism and Overdetermination.” American Philosophical Quarterly 33 (1): 105–115.Google Scholar
Moore, D. 2012. “Causal Exclusion and Dependent Overdetermination.” Erkenntnis 76 (3): 319–335. 10.1007/s10670-011-9283-1CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morris, K. 2015. “Against Disanalogy Style Responses to the Exclusion Problem.” Philosophia 43: 435–453. 10.1007/s11406-015-9587-5CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ney, A. 2007. “Can an Appeal to Constitution Solve the Exclusion Problem?” Pacific Philosophical Quarterly 88: 486–506. 10.1111/papq.2007.88.issue-4CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Papineau, D. 2001. “The Rise of Physicalism.” In Physicalism and its Discontents, edited by Gillett, C., and Loewer, B., 3–36. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Paul, L., and Hall, N.. 2013. Causation. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199673445.001.0001CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pereboom, D. 2002. “Robust Nonreductive Materialism.” The Journal of Philosophy 99: 499–531. 10.2307/3655563CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Raatikainen, P. 2010. “Causation, Exclusion, and the Special Sciences.” Erkenntnis 73 (3): 349–363. 10.1007/s10670-010-9236-0CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rasmussen, S. 1982. “Ruben on Lewis and Causal Sufficiency.” Analysis 42 (4): 207–211. 10.1093/analys/42.4.207CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ritchie, J. 2005. “Causal Compatibilism—What Chance?” Erkenntnis 63 (1): 119–132. 10.1007/s10670-005-3056-7CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Robinson, W. 2004. Understanding Phenomenal Consciousness. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 10.1017/CBO9780511498886CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Roche, M. 2014. “Causal Overdetermination and Kim’s Exclusion Argument.” Philosophia 42: 809–826. 10.1007/s11406-014-9525-yCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ruben, D. 1981. “Lewis and the Problem of Causal Sufficiency.” Analysis 41 (1): 38–41. 10.1093/analys/41.1.38CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sanford, D. 1975. “Causal Necessity and Logical Necessity.” Philosophical Studies 28: 103–112. 10.1007/BF00378137CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schiffer, S. 1987. Remnants of Meaning. Cambridge: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Segal, G. 2009. “The Causal Inefficacy of Content.” Mind and Language 24: 80–102. 10.1111/mila.2009.24.issue-1CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shapiro, L. 2012. “Mental Manipulations and the Problem of Causal Exclusion.” Australasian Journal of Philosophy 90 (3): 507–524. 10.1080/00048402.2011.601749CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shoemaker, S. 2007. Physical Realization. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199214396.001.0001CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sider, T. 2003. “What’s so bad about overdetermination?” Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 67: 719–726. 10.1111/phpr.2003.67.issue-3CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Taylor, R. 1976. “Causation.” In The Nature of Causation, edited by Brand, M., 279–305. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.Google Scholar
Tranøy, K. 1962. “Historical Explanation: Causes and Conditions.” Theoria 28 (3): 234–249.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Turner, M. 2008. The Mind-Body Problem: Knot Or Not? Xlibris Corporation.Google ScholarPubMed
Walter, S. 2008. “The Supervenience Argument, Overdetermination, and Causal Drainage: Assessing Kim's Master Argument.” Philosophical Psychology 21: 673–696. 10.1080/09515080802415985CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yablo, S. 1992. “Mental Causation.” The Philosophical Review 101: 245–280. 10.2307/2185535CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zhong, L. 2011. “Can Counterfactuals Solve the Exclusion Problem?” Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 83 (1): 129–147. 10.1111/phpr.2011.83.issue-1CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zhong, L. 2014. “Sophisticated Exclusion and Sophisticated Causation.” Journal of Philosophy 111: 361–380.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zhong, L. forthcoming. “Semantic Normativity and Semantic Causality.” Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, Online First.Google Scholar