Physicalism, or materialism
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Please explain the differences between physicalism and dualism.
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Physicalism and materialism are explained in the solution.
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Your question concerns just how it is that mentality, the mind, or more or less equivalently, consciousness, fits into the world, where by 'world' I mean basically everything that exists.
Physicalism, or materialism, (the terms are interchangeable) is an ontological, or a metaphysical, view, that is, a thesis about the nature of ultimate reality. It says that everything that exists is physical, or material. It is version of monism (contrast dualism), because it claims that everything is constituted by just one kind of stuff, i.e., material exhibiting physical properties. A physical property is something like an object's mass, shape, and more generally, properties describable by physics.
Your question is formulated in the context of a discussion of the relation between mind and body; however, it is worth noting that physicalism is a very general thesis ...
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