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epiphenomenalism

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English

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Etymology

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Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *h₁ep-der.
Proto-Indo-European *h₁épsder.
Proto-Indo-European *h₁épi
Proto-Hellenic *epí
Ancient Greek ἐπί (epí)
Ancient Greek ἐπῐ- (epĭ-)der.
English epi-
Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂-
Proto-Indo-European *-né-
Proto-Indo-European *-yéti
Proto-Indo-European *bʰh₂nyéti
Proto-Hellenic *pʰáňňō
Ancient Greek φαίνω (phaínō)
Ancient Greek φαινόμενον (phainómenon)bor.
Late Latin phaenomenonder.
English phenomenon
Proto-Indo-European *h₂el-
Proto-Indo-European *-is
Proto-Indo-European *h₂élisder.?
Proto-Italic *-ālis
Latin -ālislbor.
Old French -albor.
▲
Latin -ālis
Old French -elbor.
▲
Latin -ālisbor.
Middle English -al
English -al
▲
Ancient Greek φαινόμενον (phainómenon)bor.
French phénomène
▲
Old French -al
Middle French -al
French -al
French phénoménalbor.
English phenomenal
English epiphenomenal
Proto-Indo-European *-id-
Proto-Indo-European *-yéti
Proto-Indo-European *-idyéti
Proto-Hellenic *-íd͏̌d͏̌ō
Ancient Greek -ῐ́ζω (-ĭ́zō)
Proto-Indo-European *-mos
Proto-Indo-European *-mós
Ancient Greek -μός (-mós)
Ancient Greek -ῐσμός (-ĭsmós)der.
English -ism
English epiphenomenalism

    From epiphenomenal + -ism. Coined by English psychologist James Ward in 1899.

    Pronunciation

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    Noun

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    epiphenomenalism (countable and uncountable, plural epiphenomenalisms)

    2. (uncountable, philosophy, psychology) The doctrine that consciousness, mental states and processes are simply by-products of physiological events in the brain or nervous system and cannot themselves cause anything, whether material or immaterial. [from 1899]
      Synonym: conscious automatism (archaic)
      Near-synonym: automatism
      Hypernym: property dualism
      In the eyes of epiphenomenalism, anger does not cause one to shout nor does grief cause one to cry; the feelings are by-products of the underlying physical causes and nothing more.
      • 1997, Victor Caston, “Epiphenomenalisms, Ancient and Modern”, in The Philosophical Review, volume 106, number 3, page 310:
        The textbook account of epiphenomenalism goes something like this. Although our thoughts, desires, and other mental states seem to affect what happens in the world, by bringing about changes in our behavior or subsequent mental states, this is only an appearance, cast off by the real physical sequence of cause and effect that underlies our mental life.
      • 2001, Colin Blakemore, Shelia Jennett, editors, The Oxford Companion to the Body, Oxford: Oxford University Press, page 175, column 3:
        More intriguing is epiphenomenalism. Just as the shadow of a running horse appears to run along with it but plays no causal role in the running, consciousness may simply accompany certain brain events but not itself have a function.
      • 2005, Ian Ravenscroft, Philosophy of Mind: A Beginner's Guide, New York: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 19:
        According to epiphenomenalism, physical properties of the brain cause non-physical properties of the brain, but not vice versa.
      • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:epiphenomenalism.
    4. (countable, philosophy, psychology) Such a doctrine, as advanced by a particular thinker or school of thought.
      • 1926, Stephen C. Pepper, “Emergence”, in The Journal of Philosophy, volume 23, number 9, page 241:
        The theory of emergent evolution has been largely developed as a corrective of mechanistic theories with their attendant psycho-physical dualisms and epiphenomenalisms.
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    Translations

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    See also

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    References

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    • Random House Webster's Unabridged Electronic Dictionary, 1987-1996.
    Etymology
    Sense 1

    Further reading

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