The philosopher Dr. des. David Hommen from Viersen has received the drupa Prize 2013 for his dissertation “Mentale Verursachung, innere Erfahrung und handelnde Personen. Eine Verteidigung des Epiphänomenalismus” (Mental Causation, Inner Experience and Acting Individuals. In Support of Epiphenomenalism). The Award was presented by Claus Bolza Schünemann (Chairman of the Board at Koenig & Bauer AG and President of drupa 2016), Werner M. Dornscheidt (President & CEO of Messe Düsseldorf) and Prof Dr H. Michael Piper (Principal of Heinrich-Heine University Düsseldorf) as part of a celebratory event at the “Industrieclub Düsseldorf” on 3 June.
In his award-winning doctoral thesis Hommen deals with epiphenomenalism. According to this theory, in the philosophy of the mind mental phenomena are caused by physical processes but cannot drive the physical mechanics of the brain. In simple terms, epiphenomenalism describes the following: the mind, which is a “waste product” of the brain, so to speak, produces no effects on physical activities. Following the argument of epiphenomenalism there are no understandable or reasonable reasons for human actions.
In his dissertation the 33-year old Hommen has addressed an “outlier” topic in philosophy. In the German-speaking region the supporters of epiphenomenalism can almost be counted on the fingers of one hand; on a global scale there are only several dozens of philosophers openly admitting to epiphenomenalism. It was the controversial nature of this – anything but mainstream theme – that especially fascinated David Hommen and motivated him to defend epiphenomenalism.
