What is the difference between physicalism and materialism?
Not a lot, I don’t think. They describe a similar approach to different problems. Physicalism is the view that the world can be/is totally described and explained by a causally closed physics. Materialists hold that nothing exists or requires for its explanation anything which is empirically unverifiable. It’s more a difference of context; the word ‘physicalism’ is used when it’s a question of natural laws, whereas ‘materialism’ is used in cases where it’s objects themselves, or properties that are important. I would be surprised if there are any physicalists who aren’t materialists, and astounded if there are any materialists who aren’t physicalists.
