There's Something About Mary: Essays on Phenomenal Consciousness and Frank Jackson's Knowledge Argument

by Peter Ludlow (Editor), Yujin Nagasawa (Editor)

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 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.

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction, Anthologies, Essays

486 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 2004

Reviews

[Caroline · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mary is a brilliant scientist who knows every physical fact there is to know about color, including how it is perceived in the human brain. However, she has never seen any colors (besides black and white). The first time she sees something red, does she learn anything new? Specifically, does she learn what it is like to see red?

If you want to spend on the order of 20 hours thinking about this question, this collection of essays contains an astonishing variety of well-thought-out perspectives. I was only really interested in spending half that amount of time, so the book dragged on a bit for me. Nevertheless, I’m very glad I read it.

[Rana Tourchian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jackson’s thought experiment alone definitely impressed me, but after reading the responses and criticisms that he shared with Churchland, I was disappointed. He literally gave up after Churchland’s response. I’m upset.

[Katherine Green · Rating 5 out of 5]

a really fun philosophy topic.
Frustrating now whenever someone brings up Mary's room, 99% of people say something that sounds wrong.
My neurophilosophy teacher found my answer a bit dissatisfying too. I found his explanation of his dissatisfaction dissatisfying. Ish. I will think about it again, sometime, later.
Hard to say lol.