Nagasawa’s Nontheoretical Physicalism
Philosopher Yujin Nagasawa interrelates central debates in philosophy of mind (phenomenal consciousness) and philosophy of religion (existence of God) to construct a unique metaphysical thesis, which he calls “nontheoretical physicalism,” by which he claims that although this world is entirely physical, there are physical facts that cannot be captured even by complete theories of the physical sciences.
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Yujin Nagasawa
Professor of Philosophy
Yujin Nagasawa is a Japanese-born philosopher and Kingfisher College Chair of the Philosophy of Religion and Ethics at the University of Oklahoma. He previously served as president of the British Society for the Philosophy of Religion and is co-director of the John Hick Centre for Philosophy of Religion. Nagasawa is widely recognized for his contributions to debates on the nature and existence of God, as well as the philosophy of consciousness.
Key Takeaways
Core Claim
The world is wholly physical, yet some physical facts elude complete physical theories.
How It Works
Shifts physicalism from theory-based to entity-based, leaving room for untheorizable facts.
Distinguishing Idea
Links philosophy of mind and religion via parallels in knowledge-limit arguments.
Implications
Preserves physicalism while admitting the irreducibility of certain experiential realities.
Nagasawa’s Nontheoretical Physicalism
Philosopher Yujin Nagasawa interrelates central debates in philosophy of mind (phenomenal consciousness) and philosophy of religion (existence of God) to construct a unique metaphysical thesis, which he calls “nontheoretical physicalism,” by which he claims that although this world is entirely physical, there are physical facts that cannot be captured even by complete theories of the physical sciences (Nagasawa, 2008). This is no defense of traditional Non-Reductive Physicalism, but it is consistent with some of its distinguishing features.
Nagasawa's unique methodology, moving from epistemology to ontology, draws heretofore unrecognized parallels between fundamental arguments in philosophy of mind and philosophy of religion, using in the former the Knowledge Argument that Mary cannot know what it is like to see color in her black-and-white room, and in the latter atheistic arguments that God cannot know what it is like to be evil or limited due to his perfections. From what Nagasawa takes as the failures of traditional arguments against physicalism, yet in still rejecting a physicalist approach to phenomenal consciousness, he constructs his “nontheoretical physicalism” (Nagasawa, 2023).
What Nagasawa means by “nontheoretical” is an explanation of physicalism that is entity-based, not theory-based, which is consistent with his view that even with complete and final physical theories, all reality cannot be explained (Nagasawa, 2008).
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