The Problem of Qualia
P: Mary knows all possible physical facts about colour-vision, but has been taught them in a completely black-and-white environment. If all knowledge is physical knowledge, then upon hearing that she had been shown a red tomato for the first time, we would have to say that she had not learned anything new.
P: But clearly, we would want to say that she had learned something new.
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C: Therefore, not all knowledge is physical knowledge.
- Frank Jackson
"In this argument, the conclusion must be presupposed for the argument to be sound, and therefore, each is either circular or unsound. Specifically, in order to assent to the second premise, a person has to have a pre-existing intuition in favour of the conclusion. If you do not have this intuition, you simply cannot assent to the truth of the second premise, and therefore, you cannot consider the argument sound. If you DO have the intuition, great, but the fact that the argument requires pre-existing agreement with the conclusion for its soundness makes it plainly circular." (This criticism is offered here: http://community.livejournal.com/real_philosophy/371530.html)
P: Mary knows all possible physical facts about colour-vision, but has been taught them in a completely black-and-white environment. If all knowledge is physical knowledge, then upon hearing that she had been shown a red tomato for the first time, we would have to say that she had not learned anything new.
P: But clearly, we would want to say that she had learned something new.
--
C: Therefore, not all knowledge is physical knowledge.
- Frank Jackson
"In this argument, the conclusion must be presupposed for the argument to be sound, and therefore, each is either circular or unsound. Specifically, in order to assent to the second premise, a person has to have a pre-existing intuition in favour of the conclusion. If you do not have this intuition, you simply cannot assent to the truth of the second premise, and therefore, you cannot consider the argument sound. If you DO have the intuition, great, but the fact that the argument requires pre-existing agreement with the conclusion for its soundness makes it plainly circular." (This criticism is offered here: http://community.livejournal.com/real_philosophy/371530.html)
posted by Alden at 10:46 PM
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