What does the knowledge argument show?
The knowledge argument aims to establish that conscious experience involves non-physical properties. It rests on the idea that someone who has complete physical knowledge about another conscious being might yet lack knowledge about how it feels to have the experiences of that being.
What is Frank Jackson’s argument?
Jackson argues that if Mary does learn something new upon experiencing color, then physicalism is false. Specifically, the knowledge argument is an attack on the physicalist claim about the completeness of physical explanations of mental states.
Who created the knowledge argument?
Frank Jackson
The knowledge argument is an argument against physicalism, the view that the world is wholly physical. It was developed by Frank Jackson (1943–) and is based on the following thought experiment.
What is the Conceivability argument?
The conceivability argument — which assumes physicalism entails that zombies are impossible — purports to refute it by showing they are possible. As we saw, the simplest version of this argument goes: (1) zombies are conceivable; (2) whatever is conceivable is possible; (3) therefore zombies are possible.
Why is the knowledge argument one of the main challenges to physicalism?
The knowledge argument is one of the main challenges to physicalism, the doctrine that the world is entirely physical. The arguer infers that, contrary to physicalism, the complete physical truth is not the whole truth. The physical truth does not determine or metaphysically necessitate the whole truth about the world.
What are some objections to the ability reply to the knowledge argument?
Perhaps: an ability to remem- ber or imagine certain sorts of experiences. Two problems: (i) she may lack imagination or memory, but still learn something; (ii) if she does acquire new abilities, this seems to be explained by her knowledge of what the experience is like.
Does the knowledge argument refute physicalism?
The knowledge argument aims to refute physicalism, the doctrine that the world is entirely physical. Physicalism (also known as materialism) is widely accepted in contemporary philosophy.
Does Jackson think Qualia cause behaviors?
Jackson argues that qualia are epiphenomenal; i.e., they don’t cause anything physical (he allows that they might cause other mental events) and furthermore, that “their possession or absence makes no difference to the physical world.”
What is the conclusion of the Knowledge argument?
The conclusion of the knowledge argument is not simply that some knowledge requires experience; it is that there is some specific kind of knowledge which requires a specific kind of experience, and that this cannot be obtained in another way. Mary’s knowledge of what red looks like is knowledge of this kind.
Who is Frank Jackson philosophy?
In philosophy of mind, Jackson is known, among other things, for the knowledge argument against physicalism—the view that the universe is entirely physical (i.e., the kinds of entities postulated in physics). Jackson motivates the knowledge argument by a thought experiment known as Mary’s room.
What is Descartes argument for divisibility?
The divisibility argument is one of three of Descartes’ arguments for substance dualism: that is the view that the mind and body are separate. The argument runs as follows: Bodies are divisible into spatial parts. Minds are not divisible into spatial parts. Therefore, the mind is a distinct substance from the body.
What is the indivisibility argument?
The Argument from Indivisibility seeks to show that bodies but not minds are spatially divisible and that argument is not rebutted by pointing out that consciousness is temporally divisible. The Indivisibility Argument suggests that the mind is a simple unity.