epiphenomenal

English

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA: /ˌɛpɪfɪˈnɒmɪnəl/

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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 which 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.

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