Concept

Emergent materialism

Overview

In the philosophy of mind, emergent (or emergentist) materialism is a theory which asserts that the mind is irreducibly existent in some sense. However, the mind does not exist in the sense of being an ontological simple. Further, the study of mental phenomena is independent of other sciences. The theory primarily maintains that the human mind's evolution is a product of material nature and that it cannot exist without material basis.

Overview adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0; see the article history for authors).

Philosophers who discussed Emergent materialism

• Henri Bergson

Related ideas

• John Searle
• Mental event
• Functionalism (philosophy of mind)
• Mind
• Ontology
• Eliminative materialism
• Type physicalism
• Behaviorism
• Philosophy of mind
• Biological naturalism
• Problem of mental causation

Place in the tradition

Part of Outline of philosophy.

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