Chapter 8 - The very idea of token physicalism

Summary

This chapter emphasizes any physicalist position must concern itself primarily with mental and physical types and take a position on their relationship. A position that is manifestly physicalist in recognizing the primacy of the physical. The choice between type and token physicalism is commonly thought of as presenting a major decision point for any would be physicalist. The chapter mainly focus on the two versions of token physicalism namely Davidson's and Fodor's. Davidson's "anomalous monism", considered an instance of token physicalism, predates Fodor, though not by much. Realization physicalism and supervenience physicalism are robust and substantial forms of physicalism, and go far beyond what philosophers think of as token physicalism. The fact is that token physicalism, whatever it really is, is far too modest as a physicalism. This chapter is a defense of the importance of types, as opposed to tokens, in the debate over the mind - body problem.