Mary's Room Flashcards
What is Mary’s room?
Mary = brilliant scientist. Locked in B&W room. Specialises in neurophysiology of vision. Learns all physical facts about seeing red. How wavelength combinations stimulate retina and info passed onto visual cortex, etc. But what happens when released and sees red? Surely learn something new.
P1: M knows all physical facts before release.
P2: some facts M doesn’t know after release.
P3: non-physical facts
Temptations to dualism??!?!
What does Mary’s room show?
Physicalism false. More to qualitative states than we know.
How might raise doubts about the thought experiment itself?
Mary would be able to figure out what coloured things would look like if knows all physical facts. Cf. rubbing eye, imagination.
Obj: would have to show necessary connection between all facts and capacity to correctly imagine red.
Obj: shortcomings of imagination.
Mary would recognise colours if knows all physical facts. ‘Oh, so this is red’. Cf. red banana trick.
Obj: simply deny.obj: would surely acquire new phenomenal concept of red.
What is the ability hypothesis response?
Mary doesn’t acquire new proportional knowledge, only new bundle of abilities (imagine and recognise red).
Epistemic progress consists in knowing what it is like. This is to have certain abilities.
For: Occam’s razor.
Obj: ability neither necessary nor sufficient for knowing what it is like to experience colour. E.g., person who can’t imagine still experience colour.
Could we have complete knowledge with knowledge of all physical facts?
P1 doesn’t necessarily imply p3. Mary doesn’t know all physical facts as she lacks concept of what it is for object to be red.
Metaphysical physicalism = ontological claim - no non-physical properties Linguistic physicalism = everything physical can be expressed by physical sciences. Mary only refutes latter.
Obj: not established.
Rep: Occam’s razor. Theoretic limitation (principle of convergence).
