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William James’s Objection to Epiphenomenalism
Journal article

William James’s Objection to Epiphenomenalism

Abstract

James developed an evolutionary objection to epiphenomenalism that is still discussed today. Epiphenomenalists have offered responses that do not grasp its full depth. I thus offer a new reading and assessment of James’s objection. Our life-essential, phenomenal pleasures and pains have three features that suggest that they were shaped by selection, according to James: they are natively patterned, those patterns are systematically linked with …

Authors

Klein A

Journal

Philosophy of Science, Vol. 86, No. 5, pp. 1179–1190

Publisher

Cambridge University Press (CUP)

Publication Date

12 2019

DOI

10.1086/705477

ISSN

0031-8248