Editing Epiphenomenon (section)

===Philosophy of mind and psychology===
{{Main|Epiphenomenalism}}
An epiphenomenon can be an effect of primary phenomena, but cannot affect a primary phenomenon. In the [[philosophy of mind]], [[epiphenomenalism]] is the view that [[mind|mental]] phenomena are epiphenomena in that they can be caused by physical phenomena, but cannot cause physical phenomena.  In strong epiphenomenalism, epiphenomena that are mental phenomena can ''only'' be caused by physical phenomena, not by other mental phenomena.  In weak epiphenomenalism, epiphenomena that are mental phenomena can be caused by both physical phenomena and other mental phenomena, but mental phenomena cannot be the cause of any physical phenomenon.  

The [[physical world]] operates independently of the [[mental world]] in epiphenomenalism; the mental world exists as a derivative [[Parallel universe (fiction)|parallel world]] to the physical world, affected by the physical world (and by other epiphenomena in weak epiphenomenalism), but not able to have an effect on the physical world.  [[Instrumentalism|Instrumentalist]] versions of epiphenomenalism allow some mental phenomena to cause physical phenomena, when those mental phenomena can be strictly analyzable as summaries of physical phenomena, preserving causality of the physical world to be strictly analyzable by other physical phenomena.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Taylor |first=Richard |title=Metaphysics |publisher=Prentice-Hall |year=1963 |edition=1st |location=Eaglewood Cliffs, N.J.}}</ref>