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Realization and the metaphysics of mind 1  

Author: Thomas W. Polger a
Affiliation:   a University of Cincinnati,
DOI: 10.1080/00048400701343085
Publication Frequency: 4 issues per year
Published in: journal Australasian Journal of Philosophy, Volume 85, Issue 2 June 2007 , pages 233 - 259
Subject: Philosophy;
Formats available: HTML (English) : PDF (English)
Previously published as: Australasian Journal of Psychology and Philosophy (1832-8660) until 1947
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Abstract

According to a familiar view in philosophy of mind, mental states or properties are realized by physical states or properties but are not identical to them. This view is often called realization physicalism. But what is realization? I argue that recent approaches to realization, represented by Carl Gillett's 'dimensioned' view, fail to acknowledge some textbook cases of realization. I also argue Gillett's account in particular admits realization relations that should not count if realization physicalism is to be distinguished from its competitors in the usual ways. I offer my own account of realization, and argue that it is superior not only in passing the above tests but also in its utility for answering questions about multiple realizability.
1I have had the pleasure of discussing this paper and its ancestors with many people. I am especially grateful to Tom Bontly, Joseacute Luis Bermuacutedez, Carl Craver, Eric Funkhouser, Carl Gillett, John Heil, Jaegwon Kim, Michael Lynch, Brendan O'Sullivan, Larry Shapiro, John Symons, Gene Witmer, and Chase Wrenn. I would also like to thank the anonymous referees for this journal, and audiences for versions of this paper that were presented at the American Philosophical Association, Southern Society for Philosophy and Psychology, the Society for Philosophy and Psychology, the University of Cincinnati, and Washington University in St. Louis. Work on this paper was supported in part by the Charles P. Taft Research Center at the University of Cincinnati.
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