What is physicalism?

Physicalism is a philosophical position that holds that all phenomena in the universe, including mental phenomena, are ultimately physical in nature. This means that everything that exists can be explained in terms of physical processes and properties.

Physicalism is closely related to the scientific worldview, as it asserts that the natural sciences can provide a complete description of reality. This view contrasts with dualism, which posits that there are two distinct types of substances - physical and non-physical (such as mind or soul).

There are different forms of physicalism, including reductive physicalism, which seeks to reduce mental phenomena to physical states, and non-reductive physicalism, which allows for the existence of emergent properties that cannot be reduced to physical states.

Critics of physicalism argue that it fails to account for the subjective nature of consciousness and mental experiences. However, proponents of physicalism maintain that advances in neuroscience and cognitive science are helping to bridge the gap between physical processes and mental phenomena, providing support for their position.