Jessica Wilson: Non reductive realization and the powers based subset strategy

Professor Jessica Wilson (University of Toronto) speaks at the event "Metaphysics of Mind", 19th August 2014.
Abstract:
The powers-based subset strategy (Wilson 1999, 2011, Shoemaker 2000, 2007) is, I have argued, key to a non-reductive physicalist account of mental, and more generally, higher-level realization. In terms of states, the strategy requires that the token powers of a realized state on an occasion be a proper subset of the token powers of the realizing state on that occasion. In this talk, I'll motivate the strategy, then address a number of recent objections (due to Kim, Melnyk, Morris, Ney, and Pereboom, among others) aiming to show that the strategy either fails to ensure non-reduction or fails to ensure physicalism.