Physicalist Bigotry

A specific form of naturalist bigotry that insists only physical entities and properties exist—rejecting not only the supernatural but also abstract objects, mental states as irreducible, or any non‑physical reality. Physicalist bigotry targets dualists, idealists, panpsychists, and anyone who holds that consciousness or meaning might exceed physical description. It uses accusations of “folk psychology,” “mysterianism,” or “woo” to dismiss alternative positions, often while claiming that physicalism is not a philosophical stance but simply “what science shows.” The bigotry lies in refusing to acknowledge the contested nature of physicalism and in pathologizing those who question it.

Example: “He called her a ‘property dualist’ as an insult, claiming only ‘brain facts’ mattered—physicalist bigotry, treating a live philosophical debate as settled and her position as intellectually defective.”

Physicalist Prejudice

The cognitive bias that privileges physicalist explanations without justification, dismissing any appeal to non‑physical entities or properties as automatically inferior or unintelligible. Physicalist prejudice often appears in discussions of consciousness, where people assume that neural correlates are consciousness rather than evidence of correlation. It leads to reflexive rejection of qualia, subjective experience, or any phenomenon that resists third‑person measurement. This prejudice is common in neuroscience popularization, where “it’s just the brain” is treated as a complete explanation.

Example: “He insisted that love was ‘just neurotransmitters’ and that any talk of feeling was unscientific—physicalist prejudice, reducing a rich phenomenon to a caricature of its physical correlates.”

Physicalist Bigotry by Abzugal Nammugal Enkigal April 16, 2026