The Knowledge Argument

[Paul C. Anagnostopoulos]

So here's an interesting question I've come across in my travels:

What would zombie-Mary says when she left the black and white room?

~~ Paul

[Paul C. Anagnostopoulos]

You know, among the list of things that Mary learns in the black and white room is the answer to the knowledge argument thought experiment. Ain't that interesting?

~~ Paul

[David Bailey]

Originally Posted by Paul C. Anagnostopoulos

You know, among the list of things that Mary learns in the black and white room is the answer to the knowledge argument thought experiment. Ain't that interesting?

~~ Paul

But only in the case that a materialist description of consciousness is valid. In the other perspectives, she never succeeds in gaining a total understanding of visual qualia, and the experiment is impossible in principle.

David

[Paul C. Anagnostopoulos]

Originally Posted by David

But only in the case that a materialist description of consciousness is valid. In the other perspectives, she never succeeds in gaining a total understanding of visual qualia, and the experiment is impossible in principle.

Even under other metaphysics, I think she would know the answer to the thought experiment, even if she didn't understand color vision completely.

For example, under dualism she would learn the answer to the pesky problem of how the two parts of the dual interact, because a complete understanding of the physical half would lead to that. Under epiphenomenalism, she would learn how it is we speak of qualia even though they are epiphenomenal. So she would have a lot of hints about the answer to the thought experiment.

Uh oh ...

Benham's Top


~~ Paul