There's Something About Mary ─ Essays on Phenomenal Consciousness And Frank Jackson's Knowledge Argument

In Frank Jackson's famous thought experiment, Mary is confined to a black-and-whiteroom and educated through black-and-white books and lectures on a black-and-white television. Inthis way, she learns everything there is to know about the physical world. If physicalism -- thedoctrine that everything is physical -- is true, then Mary seems to know all there is to know. Whathappens, then, when she emerges from her black-and-white room and sees the color red for the firsttime? 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 andimportant arguments in contemporary philosophy.There's Something About Mary -- the first bookdevoted solely to the argument -- collects the main essays in which Jackson presents (and laterrejects) his argument along with key responses by other philosophers. These responses are organizedaround a series of questions: Does Mary learn anything new? Does she gain only know-how (the abilityhypothesis), or merely get acquainted with something she knew previously (the acquaintancehypothesis)? Does she learn a genuinely new fact or an old fact in disguise? And finally, does shereally know all the physical facts before her release, or is this a "misdescription"? The argumentspresented in this comprehensive collection have important implications for the philosophy of mindand the study of consciousness.

Yujin Nagasawa is Research Fellow at the Australian National University and Izaak Walton Killam Memorial Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Alberta.