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returntothepit >> discuss >> philosphical fuck face debate fuck you all dualist by ronald andrukill on Jul 27,2011 11:20pm
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toggletoggle post by ronald andrukill at Jul 27,2011 11:20pm
Ronald Andruchuk
Tomoji Shogenji
Critical Paper 2
December 8, 2009
The main goal of the knowledge argument is to establish the fact that conscious experience involves non-physical properties. This is an argument against physicalism. It is based on the phenomenal qualities of sensory experience. Phenomenal qualities are sometimes called qualia or raw feel, which refer to the introspectively accessible, phenomenal aspects of our mental lives. The idea of the knowledge argument is based on the concept that even though someone may have a complete physical understanding that another conscious being exist they might still lack an understanding of how it feels to be that being. This all poses a challenge to physicalism which is a belief on the other side of the coin claiming everything is physical.
Frank Jackson’s Knowledge Argument against physicalism involves an allegory that spoofs on Platos allegory of the cave. It is called, the “Famous Case of Mary”. Basically the story reads that a girl named Mary was born and raised throughout her entire life in a black and write room with no colors beyond the simple black and white setting. Mary learns science through black and white books and black and white TV Without seeing any colors. She learned everything about physics and physiology of color perception. She learned that wave-lengths of light cause neural changes; ETC. Ultimately Mary is released to see colors outside of that room she lived in hitherto. She finally experiences redness of apples and now knows how it feels to perceive such things. She did not know this before because only Black and white was available for her to perceive. Even though she knew every physical property about color perception she did not know what it was like to perceive a red apple. In turn this suggest that being able to perceive what its like to experience a red apple is not a physical property because even though she knew all physical properties of color perception she could not understand what it was like to perceive a red apple which is not a physical property. Even though Mary had all the physical information, Frank Believes there is more than just the physical involved which shows his belief that physicalism is false and that not all things are physical.
The original form of this argument is considered to now be the weaker version because it has since been adjusted into what is known as the stronger version. The stronger version reads that Mary knows all the physical facts concerning human color vision before her release, however, there are some facts about human color vision that Mary does not know before her release. The conclusion drawn here would be that there are nonphysical facts concerning human color vision. This argument surely strengthens the rejection of physicalism. This stronger version is an ontological claim which forces a rejection of the physicalist claim that all things are only physical. This is an a priori concept that suggests there is some sources of experiences are not just physical in nature. This is an obvious analytical argument. The weaker version reads that Mary has complete physical knowledge concerning facts about human color vision before her release, however, there is some kind of knowledge concerning facts about human color vision that she does not have before her release. This also shows that there is some kind of knowledge concerning facts about human color vision that is considered to be non-physical knowledge, however, you can see this version isn’t as strong because the weaker version of the argument is merely an epistemological claim. It is still compatible with denying the existence of non-physical facts. This weaker version of the argument tests the foundations and the extent of knowledge. It is suggested that though the weaker version was originally presented, the stronger was the obvious intent.
There are also some strong objections to this argument, some of which are in defense of physicalism. In light of these objections I will discuss physicalism. Physicalism suggests that all things are physical and that mental properties are just physical properties of the brain. As we can see the knowledge argument does not explicitly mention non-physical properties but only non-physical facts. Those that strongly back the knowledge argument will say that the facts at issue are non-physical because they involve the exemplification of non-physical properties. Though sensory experience is considered a strong supporter of the mental there is still a defense against the knowledge argument. Phenomenal qualities do set up a strong argument against physicalism but have not necessarily put the physicalist argument to rest.
According to the Stamford Encyclopedia of Philosophy some philosophers have pointed out that by confining Mary to an environment in which she could only see black and white would not prevent her from having color experiences. The knowledge argument also does not show that after Marys release she would be able to see colors. This example can be adjusted to meet these objections however. To meet the requirements Mary could possibly be monochromatic from birth and develop into a normal perceiver by a medical procedure.
It is also argued that Mary could possibly know and recognize the colors when first seeing them because of the fact that she has complete physical knowledge about color vision. She would know and recognize the red apple as being the right color and not be fooled by having someone tell her it is blue when it is truthfully red. In defense of Mary people could claim that when Mary was first confronted with a red apple it can be concluded that she is now seeing what people call and label red, she is acquiring a set of new beliefs about what a red experience is like. Mary is exposed to red for the first time and gains a new phenomenal concept of what it is like to experience red. A response to this is that If Mary was first confronted with red and was able to conclude that she is now seeing what people call red then she is acquiring a large set of novel beliefs about red experiences such as knowing what wavelengths give rise to roses and other red objects. When she sees red she acquires a new phenomenal concept of red and then she follows with a new belief involving that new concept using her previously acquired physical knowledge. If this is true then Marys previous knowledge was actually just incomplete.
It is also possible that Mary has all the physical knowledge without knowing all the physical facts. It is argued that Mary does not know all the functional facts concerning human color vision because she lacks the concept of what it is for an object to be red or any other color outside of her black and white experience.
If we assume that Mary has all physical knowledge as stated in the first version of the argument or knows all the physical facts as in the second version of the knowledge argument then we see that physical is meant in a very broad sense that includes the knowledge of the functioning of the receptors and neurons and all that is involved in vision as well as knowledge about the entire physiological system of causal relations between processes that give rise to color vision which is functional knowledge and facts. Physical knowledge includes psychological knowledge meaning they can be formulated without use of phenomenal terminology. It is possible that we can clarify physical knowledge. We can say that physical knowledge is knowledge that includes all knowledge that is expressible in such terminology that does not contain mental terms that can be reduced to a lower level of explanation. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy states, “It would be natural to define physical facts as those facts that can be expressed in this way.”
Jackson now argues that the argument is wrong in presupposing a false view about sensory experience and that it can be answered by endorsing strong view that to be in a phenomenal state is to represent objective properties where the properties represented as well as the representing itself can be given a physicalist account. Jackson admitted that there is a specific phenomenal way of representing but he now insists that the phenomenal way of representing can be accounted for in physcialist terms. So it appears that even Jackson as well as many other philosophers have found flaws with the famous Mary Argument. It appears that Jackson is now following a representationalism approach which is also known as intentionalism after having found these flaws in the Mary Argument. His objection ultimately would deny that phenomenal qualities are physical properties of the brain and phenomenal qualities are physical properties as represented by certain physical properties of the brain.



toggletoggle post by ronald andrukill at Jul 27,2011 11:22pm
Ill fucking KILLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL



toggletoggle post by ronald andrukill at Jul 27,2011 11:22pm
Ill kill my brother then ill kill all of you......................................................................................................................................



toggletoggle post by ronald andrukill at Jul 27,2011 11:23pm
Then ill fartch in everyones mouth.



toggletoggle post by DestroyYouAlot  at Jul 27,2011 11:27pm



toggletoggle post by ridahsofdizoom at Jul 28,2011 10:55am
Didn't read, didn't read




toggletoggle post by Doomkid   at Jul 28,2011 5:14pm
DestroyYouAlot said[orig][quote]


I wholeheartedly agree.



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