epiphenomenalismn.
The theory that consciousness is an epiphenomenon, i.e. a secondary result and by-product of the material brain and nerve-system.
ΚΠ
1899 J. Ward Naturalism & Agnosticism II. xii. 34 Doctrine of conscious automatism or psychical epiphenominalism examined.
1915 G. F. Stout Man. Psychol. (ed. 3) 98 Perhaps the word which best characterises the general position is epiphenomenalism. Consciousness is regarded as a superfluous apparition or phenomenon which unaccountably crops up at a certain stage in the course of material processes.
1922 W. R. Inge Outspoken Ess. 2nd Ser. 6 Not only does epiphenomenalism (as Plotinus said long ago) ‘make soul an affection, or disease, of matter’.
1949 Mind 58 124 Epiphenomenalism has outstanding merits, heuristic and educational. It teaches the student to take very seriously indeed the search for the neural correlates of his mental processes.
Derivatives
epipheˈnomenalist n. one who holds this theory; also as adj.
ΚΠ
1903 A. E. Taylor Elem. Metaphysics 317 The epiphenomenalist theory is largely adopted by the workers in the physical sciences.
1949 Mind 58 124 It is refreshing..to read a clear defence of a frankly epiphenomenalist position.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1933; most recently modified version published online June 2019).
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