There's something about Mary : essays on phenomenal consciousness and Frank Jackson's knowledge argument / edited by Peter Ludlow, Yujin Nagasawa and Daniel Stoljar.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Ludlow, Peter, 1957-

Nagasawa, Yujin.

Stoljar, Daniel.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Jackson, Frank, 1943-.

Jackson, Frank.

Consciousness.

Knowledge, Theory of.

Physical Description:

xix, 463 pages ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. : MIT Press, [2004]

Summary:

In Frank Jackson's famous thought experiment, Mary is confined to a black-and-white room and educated through black-and-white books and lectures on a black-and-white television. In this way, she learns everything there is to know about the physical world. If physicalism-the doctrine that everything is physical-is true, then Mary seems to know all there is to know. What happens, then, when she emerges from her black-and-white room and sees the color red for the first time? Jackson's knowledge argument says that Mary comes to know a new fact about color, and that, therefore, physicalism is false. The knowledge argument remains one of the most controversial and important arguments in contemporary philosophy. There's Something About Mary-the first book devoted solely to the argument-collects the main essays in which Jackson presents (and later rejects) his argument, along with key responses by other philosophers. These responses are organized around a series of questions: Does Mary learn anything new? Does she gain only know-how (the ability hypothesis), or merely get acquainted with something she knew previously (the acquaintance hypothesis)? Does she learn a genuinely new fact or an old fact in disguise? And finally, does she really know all the physical facts before her release, or is this a "misdescription"? The arguments presented in this comprehensive collection have important implications for the philosophy of mind and the study of consciousness.

Contents:

Foreword: Looking Back on the Knowledge Argument / Frank Jackson xv

Part I Black-and-White Mary 37

1 Epiphenomenal Qualia / Frank Jackson 39

2 What Mary Didn't Know / Frank Jackson 51

Part II Does She Learn Anything? 57

3 "Epiphenomenal" Qualia? / Daniel C. Dennett 59

4 Dennett on the Knowledge Argument / Howard Robinson 69

Part III The Ability Hypothesis 75

5 What Experience Teaches / David Lewis 77

6 Motion Blindness and the Knowledge Argument / Philip Pettit 105

7 Knowing What It Is Like: The Ability Hypothesis and the Knowledge Argument / Michael Tye 143

Part IV The Acquaintance Hypothesis 161

8 Knowing Qualia: A Reply to Jackson (with Postscript: 1997) / Paul M. Churchland 163

9 Acquaintance with Qualia / John Bigelow, Robert Pargetter 179

10 Phenomenal Knowledge / Earl Conee 197

Part V Old Facts, New Modes 217

11 Phenomenal States (Revised Version) / Brian Loar 219

12 What Mary Couldn't Know: Belief About Phenomenal States / Martine Nida-Rumelin 241

13 Phenomenal Concepts and the Knowledge Argument / David J. Chalmers 269

Part VI Did She Know Everything Physical? 299

14 Jackson on Physical Information and Qualia / Terence Horgan 301

15 Two Conceptions of the Physical / Daniel Stoljar 309

16 Inexpressible Truths and the Allure of the Knowledge Argument / Benj Hellie 333

17 So Many Ways of Saying No to Mary / Robert Van Gulick 365

19 Postscript on Qualia / Frank Jackson 417

20 Mind and Illusion / Frank Jackson 421.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [443]-456) and index.

ISBN:

0262122723

0262621894

OCLC:

54206166