Needs Philosophy of Chemistry1

By the 1960s many (perhaps most) philosophers had adopted ‘physicalism ’ ─ the view that physical causes fully account for mental activities. However, controversy persists about what count as ‘physical causes’. ‘Reductive ’ physicalists recognize only microphysical (elementary-particle-level) causality. Many (perhaps most) physicalists are ‘non-reductive ’ ─ they hold that entities considered by other (‘special’) sciences have causal powers. Philosophy of chemistry can help resolve main issues in philosophy of mind in three ways: developing an extended mereology applicable to chemical combination, testing whether ‘singularities ’ prevent reduction of chemistry to microphysics, and demonstrating ‘downward causation ’ in complex networks of chemical reactions. Keywords: Physicalism, philosophy of chemistry, mind, mereology, structuralism, emergence, realism, downward causation