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concept1970s-present

Anomalous Monism

Disciplines:
philosophy of mind
metaphysics

Summary

Donald Davidson's theory that mental events are identical to physical events (monism) but that mental descriptions cannot be subsumed under physical laws (anomalism) — token identity without type identity.

Core Contribution

Provides a way of being a physicalist about mental events while denying psychophysical laws — accommodating the causal efficacy of mental events without reducing mental descriptions to physical ones.

Historical Influences

Donald Davidson

Intellectual Lineage

No conceptual lineage found.

Allied Works

Mental Events The Concept of Mind Philosophy of Mind

Contemporaries & Peers

No recorded contemporaries.

Minds Influenced

No recorded minds influenced.

Intellectual Posterity

No conceptual posterity found.

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