Issue can't be settled a priori
We should not assume that physicalism applies categorically to everything in the universe. Physicalism may be true for machines, or for humans, or for both. But there is no intrinsic a priori right way to settle the matter.
Keith Gunderson (1985).
A priori: Literally, "prior to" experience. A priori knowledge (in the form of concepts, propositions, or judgments) is knowledge gained or applied without recourse to experience of the world.
Proposed examples of a priori knowledge include that:
- 2 2 = 4
- all material bodies exist in space and time
- God exists.