A Threat for Physicalism: a new Gedankenexperiment

Abstract

We present a new thought experiment that raises a threat for Minimal Physicalism, i.e. the thesis according to which mental properties supervene on physical properties. Our proposal is an example of the so called hard problems in philosophy of mind, in particular the problem of maximal consciousness. We do not however presuppose anything about its very nature apart from the minimal, weak assumption that it is determined by first order mental properties. We argue that (i) either Minimal Physicalism is unable to give an adequate account of the new thought experiment we present or (ii) has to explain the fact that two numerically distinct but physically indistinguishable individuals have different maximal consciousness due to their spatial location. We contend that this last conclusion is strongly at variance with our contemporary scientific image of the world. Presentiamo qui un nuovo esperimento mentale, che costituisce un problema per il fisicalismo, inteso come la tesi secondo cui le proprieta mentali sopravvengono su quelle fisiche. Mostriamo che se il fisicalismo fosse vero, dovremmo spiegare il fatto che due individui numericamente distinti ma fisicamente indistinguibili hanno coscienza diversa a causa della loro differente collocazione spaziale. Questa conclusione e fortemente in contrasto con la nostra attuale immagine scientifica del mondo.