property dualism
property dualism noun: the doctrine that only material substances exist and may possess both physical and nonphysical properties.
Noun
property dualism (uncountable)
- The doctrine that only material substances exist and may possess both physical and nonphysical properties.
- We have seen reasons to affirm property dualism: Consciousness and conscious states are mental and not physical. But what about the bearer of consciousness? Is it immaterial as well, or is it the brain or body or something else that is physical?2002, J. P. Moreland, What is the Soul? Recovering Human Personhood in a Scientific Age, Norcross, Georgia: Ravi Zacharias Internaitonal Ministries, →ISBN, page 27
- What's radical about property dualism is that it claims that, besides all of these physical properties, the brain has some nonphysical properties.2005, Ian Ravenscroft, Philosophy of Mind: A Beginner's Guide, New York: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 19
Origin of property dualism
From property + dualism. Coined by Canadian philosopher Patricia Churchland in 1980.
Questions about property dualism
- What does property dualism mean?
- Property dualism means the doctrine that only material substances exist and may possess both physical and nonphysical properties.
- What part of speech is property dualism?
- Property dualism is a noun.
Words near property dualism in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: property dualism (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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