Hadron the Collider

It is no great statement to claim that the human intestinal bacteria known as helicobacter pylori doesn’t have mental states. However, under close inspection, h. pylori can be seen moving towards food, i.e., hydrogen produced in the duodenum. It has also been observed moving away from harm, by tunneling into the intestinal wall in order to move to where the acidic levels of the intestines are lower. To the casual observer, this “moving toward food” behavior and “moving away from harm” behavior might be seen as a sort of awareness – a conscious decision made by the bacteria based on the wish to survive. To a trained scientist however, it’s all a matter of physics. Instead of an ephemeral “mind,” there are chemical reactions occurring within the h. pylori that “reward” the bacteria based on environmental stimuli. For each behavior event, there is a corresponding physical event occurring inside the bacteria.
In Philosophy of Mind, the Psychoneural Identity Theory states that for each mental event there is a correlating physical event that accompanies it. Physicalism goes further by asserting that there are no non-physical properties in the world. Recent studies have continually supported physicalism by demonstrating strong correlations between an individual’s actions with events occurring inside the brain. As the neuroscience continues to advance, it is becoming more and more difficult for dualists (those who believe there is a distinct separation between the mental world and the physical world) to defend their position. However, modern day dualists are nothing if not clever and have exploited an idea found in psychoneural identity theory, called token physicalism, that may allow them to hold both a dualist and a physicalist position. Nevertheless, it can be demonstrated that token physicalism is not a physicalist theory at all, as it does not meet the minimum requirements of physicalism – mind-body supervenience. This short essay will define two kinds physicalism and will show why supervenience is necessary for physicalism to be true. It will also show why token physicalism does not meet the requirements of supervenience and therefore must be rejected as a valid form of physicalism.