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Relations (1)
related 2.81 — strongly supporting 6 facts
Epiphenomenalism is a philosophical position that defines the causal status of conscious states, specifically arguing that they are inert by-products of physical processes [1] [2]. This relationship is further evidenced by the theory's conflict with the intuition that conscious states cause behavior [3] and its specific claims regarding how knowledge of conscious states is acquired [4] [5].
Facts (6)
Sources
Non-physicalist Theories of Consciousness cambridge.org 3 facts
claimEpiphenomenalism can explain fitting correlations between conscious states and physical behavior by positing one-way psychophysical laws where pain is a by-product of avoidance-causing physical states and pleasure is a by-product of attraction-causing physical states.
claimThe argument for physicalism states that if the principle of physical causal closure is correct, then epiphenomenalism and overdetermination are unacceptable, and conscious states must be physical to cause physical behavior without overdetermination.
claimC.D. Broad and Frank Jackson argued that conscious states could evolve as by-products of useful brain states, even if those conscious states themselves are inert.
Hard Problem of Consciousness | Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy iep.utm.edu 3 facts
claimEpiphenomenalism conflicts with the common intuition that conscious states, such as pain, directly cause behaviors like screaming or cringing.
claimEpiphenomenalists may propose that first-person knowledge of conscious states is achieved through a unique kind of noncausal acquaintance, or that having the phenomenal state itself constitutes the knowledge of that state.
claimEpiphenomenalists argue that knowledge of one's own conscious states is not caused by the phenomenal qualities of those experiences, rejecting the commonsense view that the feeling of pain causes the knowledge of that pain.