Anomalism, Rationality, and Psychophysical Relations

Abstract

AbstractExamines the arguments for the anomalism of the mental (the Davidsonian view, central to anomalous monism, that there are no laws on the basis of which mental events can be predicted and explained). It is argued that the basis for the anomalism of the mental is the principle that rationality is uncodifiable, and that principle is defended. It is shown that the anomalism of the mental, and the uncodifiability of rationality that underlies it, is compatible with the supervenience of the mental on the physical, but that it rules out most varieties of functionalism. It is argued that the uncodifiability of rationality rules out token identity or token correlation between particular mental states or events and particular physical states or events.