?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Adc&rft.title=An+empirical+case+against+materialism&rft.creator=Clifton%2C+Andrew&rft.subject=Philosophy+of+Mind&rft.description=Empirical+arguments+for+materialism+are+highly+circumstantial%E2%80%94based%2C+as+they+are%2C+upon+inductions+from+our+knowledge+of+the+physical+and+upon+the+fact+that+mental+phenomena+have+physical+correlates%2C+causes+and+effects.++However%2C+the+qualitative+characteristics+of+first-person+conscious+experience+are+empirically+distinct+from+uncontroversially+physical+phenomena+in+being%E2%80%94at+least+on+our+present+knowledge%E2%80%94thoroughly+resistant+to+the+kind+of+abstract%2C+formal+description+to+which+the+latter+are+always%2C+to+some+degree%2C+readily+amenable.++The+prima+facie+inference+that+phenomenal+qualities+are%2C+most+probably%2C+non-physical+may+be+resisted+either+by+denying+their+existence+altogether+or+by+proposing+that+they+are+properties+of+some+peculiar+sort+of+mysterious+physical+complexity%2C+located%2C+for+example%2C+within+the+functioning+of+the+brain.++It+is+argued+here%2C+however%2C+that+the+first%2C+eliminative+hypothesis+is+empirically+absurd%E2%80%94while+the+second+is+extravagant%2C+vague%2C+ad+hoc+and+(for+various+additional+reasons)+profoundly+implausible.++Taken+together%2C+these+considerations+provide+a+compelling+empirical+case+against+materialism%E2%80%94yet+its+converse%2C+mentalism%2C+is+usually+regarded+as+subject+to+serious+difficulties+of+its+own.++I+conclude+by+suggesting+empirical+and+theoretical+desiderata%2C+respectively%2C+for+the+vindication+of+materialism+and+alternatively%2C+for+the+development+and+defense+of+a+potentially+robust+and+viable+mentalist+theory+of+consciousness.+&rft.date=2004&rft.type=Preprint&rft.type=NonPeerReviewed&rft.format=application%2Fpdf&rft.identifier=http%3A%2F%2Fcogprints.org%2F3481%2F1%2FAn_empirical_case_against_materialism.pdf&rft.identifier=++Clifton%2C+Andrew++(2004)+An+empirical+case+against+materialism.++%5BPreprint%5D+++++&rft.relation=http%3A%2F%2Fcogprints.org%2F3481%2F