Mental Causation: The Mind-Body Problem

Columbia University Press

Summer 2008

Lucretius said 2000 years ago that everything is atoms in the void; it’s physics all the way down. Contemporary physicalism agrees. But if that’s so how can we—how can our thoughts, emotions, our values—make anything happen in the physical world?

This conundrum is called the mental causation problem. It is closely related to the free will problem, and has connections with issues about consciousness and intentionality. The problem has generated a wealth of philosophical literature in recent years. Dardis lays out the conceptual history of the mental causation problem in clear and accessible terms and offers a way to fit mental causation into our physical world. The book begins by showing how the problem appears in the history of philosophy, in the work of Plato, Aristotle, Descartes, and T. H. Huxley, and then develops a framework for building a theory of causation, laws of nature, and the causal relevance of properties. Dardis explains how macro, higher level, properties can be causally relevant in just the way microphysical properties are causally relevant: by their connection to the laws of nature. Whether it is the smell of an orange or the experience of a painting or the desire for morality, mental properties can make things happen, alongside the physical “motor of the world.”

“A splendid book. Lucidly written, large in scope, conversant with the historical and contemporary literature, makes important contributions to the discussion of the causal and explanatory role of mental states in relation to the physical world, and fills an important niche in current discussion.”—Kirk Ludwig, University of Florida

Anthony Dardis is professor of philosophy at Hofstra University and has previously taught at Pomona College and the University of Georgia. His work has been published in Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, History of Philosophy and Logical Anaylsis, Acta Analytica, Dialogue, and Consciousness and Cognition.