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cross_type 4.25 — strongly supporting 18 facts
David Chalmers is a prominent philosopher who defines his work on the 'hard problem of consciousness' in direct opposition to physicalism, as evidenced by his arguments that physicalism fails to account for subjective experience {fact:2, fact:8, fact:15}. He explicitly rejects physicalism [1] and utilizes concepts like 'zombies' [2] and the 'explanatory gap' {fact:3, fact:16} to argue that physicalism is an incomplete or false ontological framework {fact:4, fact:12}.
Facts (18)
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Hard problem of consciousness - Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org 6 facts
claimDavid Chalmers's 'hard problem' of consciousness presents a counterexample to physicalism and to phenomena like swarms of birds, as it suggests these cannot be reductively explained by their physical constituents.
perspectiveDavid Chalmers's theory of consciousness contradicts physicalism (also known as materialism), which is the view that everything that exists is a physical or material thing and can be reduced to microphysical components.
claimIn 2002, David Chalmers published a Moorean argument against illusionism, asserting that the reality of consciousness is more certain than any theoretical commitments to physicalism because humans have direct "acquaintance" with consciousness.
claimIf David Chalmers's 'hard problem' of consciousness is a real problem, then physicalism must be false; conversely, if physicalism is true, then the 'hard problem' must not be a real problem.
claimDavid Chalmers rejects physicalism but identifies as a naturalist.
perspectiveDavid Chalmers and Galen Strawson both state that panpsychism is, in a sense, a form of physicalism.
The Hard Problem of Consciousness | Springer Nature Link link.springer.com 4 facts
perspectiveDavid Chalmers argues that because physicalism cannot explain why neurophysical processes are correlated with qualitative experience, solving the 'hard problem of consciousness' requires radical changes in the ontological framework upon which modern science is based.
claimDavid Chalmers constructed his arguments regarding the hard problem of consciousness with physicalism as the central point of reference, having originally attempted to prove physicalism before discovering its untenability.
claimDavid Chalmers defines the "hard problem of consciousness" as the challenge of explaining how and why physical processes give rise to phenomenal consciousness.
claimDavid Chalmers observes that the knowledge argument by itself does not refute physicalism because experience might supervene on the physical, meaning experience could be explicable in terms of physical facts.
Non-physicalist Theories of Consciousness cambridge.org 2 facts
claimNon-physicalist arguments against physicalism, as summarized by David Chalmers in 2003, assert that there is an epistemic gap between our knowledge of phenomenal consciousness and our knowledge of the physical, which implies an ontological gap in reality.
claimDavid Chalmers argues that (1) zombies are perfectly conceivable, (2) if zombies are conceivable, then they are metaphysically possible, and (3) if zombies are metaphysically possible, then physicalism is false.
David Chalmers - Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org 2 facts
perspectiveDavid Chalmers argues for an 'explanatory gap' from the objective to the subjective and criticizes physicalist explanations of mental experience, identifying himself as a dualist.
perspectiveDavid Chalmers argues that the essential difference between the 'easy' problems of consciousness and the 'hard' problem is that the easy problems are theoretically answerable via physicalism, the dominant strategy in the philosophy of mind.
Consciousness (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy/Fall 2025 ... plato.stanford.edu 2 facts
claimNeodualists, such as John Foster and David Chalmers, have attempted to use the existence of an explanatory gap between the physical and consciousness to refute physicalism.
perspectiveDualists, such as Howard Robinson (1982), John Foster (1989, 1996), and David Chalmers (1996), interpret current explanatory impasses as evidence of the bankruptcy of the physicalist program and argue that consciousness should be recognized as a fundamental constituent of reality.
What is the hard problem of consciousness according to David ... quora.com 1 fact
claimDavid Chalmers defines the hard problem of consciousness as a problem for physicalism or materialism.
PANPSYCHISM (Philosophy of Mind Series) - Amazon.com amazon.com 1 fact
perspectiveThe author asserts that mainstream physicalism is incoherent and that David Chalmers' concept of 'Zombies,' such as a 'Zombie electron,' is logically impossible.