Causal closure of physics and the formulation of physicalism

Abstract

Physicalism is an ontological doctrine according to which everything in the world is physical in the last instance. This is usually interpreted as a claim that every non-physical, most notably every mental property can either be reduced to some physical property or shown to supervene on it. The main obstacle in an attempt to formulate physicalism properly is Hempel?s dilemma, and the most promising strategy of taking this dilemma is based on the argument from causal closure of physics. After analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of this approach, I argue that it is highly controversial and thus unable to support a strong ontological commitment.