Word of the day : Reductionism

Reductionism : it is the philosophical thesis according to which mental events are physical events. Also known as the identity theory, because it says that the mind = the brain. It is supported by the fact that a layer picture of reality can be drawn. The bottom layer is the science of atoms and their relations (physics). Immediately above it, we have biology that deals with compounds of atoms, i. e. molecules. Partial reduction of biology to physics has already been achieved But when we go up to mental events, more serious problems arise: to begin with there is an entity at the level of the mental that resists objectification, as the 'self' the 'I' may well be supported by some physical gizmo but cannot be identified with anything objective, as it is subjective in nature. In second place, mental events are normative, and nature is not normative. Our natural law generalizations are the product of the impact between the mind and reality and hence they are mental in nature.