different between epiphenomenal vs epiphenomenon

English

Etymology

epi- +? phenomenal

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /??p?f??n?m?n?l/

Adjective

epiphenomenal (comparative more epiphenomenal, superlative most epiphenomenal)

1. Being of secondary consequence to a causal chain of processes, but playing no causal role in the process of interest.
2. (philosophy, psychology) Of or pertaining to a mental process that occurs only as an incidental effect of electrical or chemical activity in the brain or nervous system.
   • 2002, Daniel Dennett, "‘Epiphenomenal’ Qualia?", in Mental Causation and the Metaphysics of Mind: A Reader, ed. Neil Campbell, Broadview, p. 211,

     If qualia are epiphenomenal in the standard philosophical sense, their occurrence can't explain the way things happen (in the material world) since, by definition, things would happen exactly the same without them.

References

English

Alternative forms

• epiphænomenon (archaic)

Etymology

epi- +? phenomenon

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?p?f??n?m?n?n/
• (US) IPA^(key): /??p.?.f??n?m.??n?n/, /??p.?.f??n?m.??n?n/

Noun

epiphenomenon (plural epiphenomena)

1. (medicine) A symptom that develops during the course of a disease that is not connected to the disease.
2. (philosophy, psychology) A mental state or process that is an incidental byproduct of physiological events in the brain or nervous system.
3. Any state, process, or other activity that is the result of another, a consequence.

Derived terms

• epiphenomenal
• epiphenomenalism

See also

• by-product

Translations