雖然當今科學一般相信心靈由大腦的運作所產生，但我們卻無法用描述大腦活動的物理概念完全解釋心靈概念或心靈現象，這是所謂的心之不可化約性問題。依據由瑟爾，耐格，以及傑克森所提出的心之不可化約性論證，物理論或所謂的唯物論所主張的「物質是唯一的存在」的說法似乎就面臨挑戰了。既然心靈現象無法被物理概念所化約，我們該如何看待這些不可化約的心靈現象呢？取消唯物論主張，這些不可化約的心靈現象根本不存在，我們使用了幾千年的語言與概念框架讓我們誤以爲它們的存在，所以，取消唯物論處理心之不可化約性問題的方法就是把這些不可化約的心靈現象從存在事物的名單中刪除。這個說法雖然在理論上有其說服力，但是，這個取消唯物論論證卻有反例存在－就是自閉症兒童的認知現象。

The mind is irreducible to the physical. This means that we cannot use physical concepts to completely explain the mind. While we believe that the mental is generated by the physical, it seems that we should be able to use physical concepts to thoroughly explain the mind. Searle, Nagel, and Jackson present arguments to show that we fail to do so. Thus, we encounter the problem of the irreducibility of the mind. According to these arguments, this problem implies that materialism (or physicalism) is wrong. However, Paul Churchland's eliminative materialism can still survive this attack. In this paper, I will discuss this debate and point out that although Churchland's argument can survive the attack, it is still problematic; there is a counterexample for Churchland's argument. That is children with autism.