ABSTRACT
Physicalism consists into two sorts of principles, one ontological, the other the principles of physical determination, together compatible with the falsity of reductionism. Both ontological and determinationist principles have the character of higher-order empirical hypotheses and are not immune from revision. Nor are they intended as final claims, for it is recognized that physical science is a changing and growing body of theory. Ontological physicalism and anti-physical reductionism are both widely held, and many have hinted at notions like physical determinationism. As a moment’s reflection on “parallelism” will verify, ontological physicalism is likewise independent from physical determinationism. This will, however, give no comfort to dualists. The psychophysical identity thesis is the ontological claim that every psychological entity is a physical entity, i.e., that every former entity is identical with some latter entity.
