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Jackson's Knowledge Argument

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Physicalism is the controversial doctrine that suggests the world is entirely physical, even that which is mental. Frank Jackson’s knowledge argument is one of the most well-known challenges to physicalism. Jackson’s knowledge argument is a dispute to the physicalist claim that mental states can be explained physically. (281) He demonstrates his argument in a thought experiment known as Mary’s Room. In this situation, Mary learns all physical truths while confined to a black-and-white room. Mary supposedly learns every physical fact about humanity and the environment from a black-and-white television, including “everything in completed physics, chemistry, and neurophysiology, and all there is to know about the causal and relational factors …show more content…

Jackson’s argument is based on this, and rests on three premises. The first states that before leaving her room, Mary knows everything of the physical world. The second claims that upon leaving her room, she discovers something she did not previously know. Jackson’s final claim rests on the fact that what Mary learns upon leaving her room could not have been known a priori. (281) However, Paul Churchland seems to find several flaws with Jackson’s premises. He claims that Jackson’s argument must be missing important details regarding propositional knowledge; if she had mastered neuroscience as was speculated in the knowledge argument she may be able to imagine the experience of seeing red. (285) He explains that “Mary could not even imagine what the relevant experience would be like, despite her exhaustive neuroscientific knowledge, and hence must still be missing certain crucial information”. (285) By mastering neuroscience, Mary may be able to enter novel brain states and imagine red prior to leaving the colorless …show more content…

The knowledge argument claims that Mary would not know what the experience is like, regardless of the magnitude of her imagination. If her knowledge is faulty, despite extensive knowledge about physicalism, then the theory of physicalism is inherently false. (285) There is no link between physiological control and physiological knowledge; even if Mary could imagine the colour red she would have no idea what it would be like to physically experience it. Churchland’s suggestion would not help the physicalist in this case; he merely says that extensive knowledge of physical facts would help Mary achieve knowledge of the experience. (285) The most important assertion in the knowledge argument is that knowledge of physical facts is in fact unequal to absolute knowledge of an experience. Therefore, even if Mary learns everything there is to know about the human brain, her imaginative powers are limited and could not be used to define an actual experience. Although imagination does not lead to full experiential knowledge, Churchland could build on his argument that her knowledge gained was defective prior to leaving the black-and-white room. She may not have been able to know what the experience would have been like regardless of her imagination, but this does not necessarily dispute the idea that her earlier knowledge may have been missing crucial information.(283) The case for Jackson’s second premise is that Mary learns

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