Skip to content

Hempel's dilemma

Hempel's dilemma is a question first asked (at least on record) by the philosopher Carl Hempel in 1969.

Version
v1 · 2026-09-28 · History
Domain-specific #
9836
Domain group
Humanities
Origin domain
Philosophy
Subdomains
Philosophy of Mind, Physicalism → Philosophy

Core Idea

Hempel's dilemma is treated here as the recurring socialscienceshumanitiesarts identity summarized by this source-grounded definition: Hempel's dilemma is a question first asked (at least on record) by the philosopher Carl Hempel in 1969. Hempel's dilemma is a question first asked (at least on record) by the philosopher Carl Hempel in 1969. It has relevance to naturalism and physicalism in philosophy, and to philosophy of mind. The dilemma questions how the language of physics can be used to accurately describe existence, given that it relies on imperfect human linguistics, or as Hempel stated: "The thesis of.

Scope of Application

  • Documented setting. The dilemma questions how the language of physics can be used to accurately describe existence, given that it relies on imperfect human linguistics, or as Hempel stated: "The thesis of physicalism.

  • Overview. Physicalism, in at least one rough sense, is the claim that the entire world may be described and explained using the laws of nature, in other words, that all phenomena are.

  • Overview. However, this type of physicalism in its turn leaves open the question of what we are to consider as the proper terms of physics.

  • Overview. There seem to be two options here, and these options form the horns of Hempel's dilemma, because neither seems satisfactory.

  • Overview. On the one hand, we may define the physical as whatever is currently explained by our best physical theories, e.g., quantum mechanics, general relativity.

Clarity

A clear use of Hempel's dilemma names the carrier, the operative relation, and the conditions under which the source treats the identity as present. The minimal definition is Hempel's dilemma is a question first asked (at least on record) by the philosopher Carl Hempel in 1969.

Manages Complexity

Hempel's dilemma compresses multiple socialscienceshumanitiesarts details into a stable diagnostic relation. The source shows both the central mechanism—in effect, physicalism by this second account becomes the circular claim that all phenomena are explicable in terms of physics because physics properly defined is whatever explains all phenomena.—and the practical consequence—hempel's dilemma is a question first asked (at least on record) by the philosopher Carl Hempel in 1969.

Abstract Reasoning

  1. Type the carrier. Identify the socialscienceshumanitiesarts entities to which the claim applies.
  2. State the relation. Use the source-grounded identity: Hempel's dilemma is a question first asked (at least on record) by the philosopher Carl Hempel in 1969.
  3. Check operation and conditions. Beenakker has proposed to resolve Hempel's dilemma with the definition: "The boundary between physics and metaphysics is the boundary between what can and what cannot be computed in the age of the universe".
  4. Demand recognition evidence.

Knowledge Transfer

Within the home domain. Knowledge about Hempel's dilemma transfers literally when a new case preserves the same carrier type, relation, and recognition test. The dilemma questions how the language of physics can be used to accurately describe existence, given that it relies on imperfect human linguistics, or as Hempel stated: "The thesis of physicalism would seem to require a language in which a true theory of all physical phenomena can be formulated.

Neighborhood in Abstraction Space

Hempel's dilemma sits in a sparse region of the domain-specific corpus (64th percentile for distinctiveness): few abstractions share its structure, so a faithful description tends to retrieve it precisely.

Family — Philosophical Concepts & Thought Experiments (27 abstractions)

Nearest neighbors

Computed from structural-signature embeddings · 2026-10-08