He argues that such analysis is mistakenly clouded in mystery, preventing a whole range of important questions from being productively addressed. Muller continues by revisiting of jacksons arguments against non epiphenomenal qualia, and suggests that none of the arguments falsify his claim. Essays on phenomenal consciousness and frank jackson s knowledge argument, edited by p. Mary is a brilliant scientistforced to investigate the world from a black and white room via a black and white monitor. Readings minds and machines linguistics and philosophy.
Suppose that i1 and i2 are two possibilities for an intrinsic property of a basic physical entity, e. Frank jacksons story jackson, 1982 about mary, a future neurophysiologist, puts the. Epiphenomenal qualia frank jackson jackson is a qualia freak. Epiphenomenalism is a position on the mindbody problem which holds that physical and biochemical events within the human body sense organs, neural impulses, and muscle contractions, for example are causal with respect to mental events thought, consciousness, and cognition. Qualia jackson thinks physicalism is false because it fails to explain qualia quale is the singular form of qualia. Whatever i know about the physical brain, its states and their functional roles and relations, is not enough to tell me anything about the itchiness of itches or. The knowledge argument jackson argues that physicalism is false. The knowledge argument became the subject of intense philosophical discussion following its canonical formulation by frank jackson 1982. Physicalism and the knowledge argument introduction 0.
Mary is a brilliant scientist who is, for whatever reason, forced to investigate the world from a black and white room via a black and white television monitor. Classical and contemporary readings oxford university press, 2002. Philosophy of mind comprehensive exam reading list jaegwon kims book philosophy of mind westview press, 1996 is an excellent general introduction to analytic philosophy of mind. Please send all submissions or inquiries to philosophy. Frank jackson epiphenomenal qualia the following is excerpted from frank jacksons article epiphenomenal qualia published in philosophical quarterly in 1982, and his article what mary didnt know published in the journal of philosophy in 1986. This article has been the subject of analysis by the nps mind group over the last few weeks.
Jul 29, 2008 hans muller has recently attempted to show that frank jackson cannot assert the existence of qualia without thereby falsifying himself on the matter of such mental states being epiphenomenal with respect to the physical world. Frank cameron jackson 1943 ist ein australischer philosoph. Many experiences have two different kinds of features. Epiphenomenal qualia pdf frank jacksons famed 1982 paper, featuring our heroine of knowledge, mary and some tomatosorting loser named fred. The term is a familiar one nowadays, but there is little consensus on its meaning. It is undeniable that the physical, chemical and biological sciences have provided a great deal of information about the world we live in and about ourselves. Epiphenomenal definition, a secondary or additional symptom or complication arising during the course of a disease.
If qualia are epiphenomenal, then in addition to the physical goingson there is a parallel. Naturalisms in philosophy of mind 221 in a similar vein, david papineau begins his book philosophical naturalism with the question, what is philosophical naturalism. Epiphenomenal qualia frank jackson the philosophical. The nature of consciousness remains a fundamental mystery of the universe. I argue that muller misunderstands the commitments of qualia epiphenomenalism and that, as a result, his arguments against jackson do not go through. Our internal, felt experience what chocolate tastes like to oneself, what it is like to see the color red, or, more. Jackson illustrates the argument in his 2002 paper epiphenomenal qualia in terms of fred, a tomatosorter with enhanced ability to discriminate between colors and properties, and, perhaps more famously, mary, the essentially colorblind neurophysiologist. I will use the label physical information for this kind of informa tion, and also for information that automatically comes along with it. Jackson defends epiphenomenalism, on which phenomenal properties or qualia are caused by but do not cause physical phenomena. I will use the label physical information for this kind of information, and also for information that automatically comes along with it jackson 127. However, there are numerous precursors of this argument in the literature.
Oxford university press usa publishes scholarly works in all academic disciplines, bibles, music, childrens books, business books, dictionaries, reference books, journals, text books and more. Physicalists and epiphenomenalists alike agree that we would be doing the exact same bitscribbling and mouthflapping in a zombie world, that our statements about qualia are. Selection file type icon file name description size revision time user. Epiphenomenal qualia, the philosophical quarterly, volume 32, issue 127, 1 april 1982. Behavior is caused by muscles that contract upon receiving neural impulses, and neural impulses are generated by input from other neurons or from sense organs. So, if you suffer from daltonism, my seeing a green square and your seeing the same green square have the sam. Jackson has us imagine this person fred who is able to discriminate two different colors of perfectly ripe tomatoes, which he calls red 1 and red 2. In his article, epiphenomenal qualia,2 frank jackson presents a philosophical thought experiment that raises these questions though jackson does not himself discuss them. Epiphenomenal qualia frank jackson the philosophical quarterly. There are, unfortunately for us, many who do not find the premise intuitively obvious. Frank jackson champions the cause of conceptual analysis as central to philosophical inquiry. Precursors of the knowledge argument typically involve at least one of two strategies which are familiar from jacksons formulation.
In this episode we interview frank jackson, professor of philosophy at the australian national university, on his famous paper. The crux of epiphenomenalism for me is how discussions of qualia can possibly refer to epiphenomenal qualia. He doesnt need to assume that she can imagine anything at all. Epiphenomenal qualia pdf frank jacksons famed 1982. In recent years conceptual analysis has been undervalued and widely misunderstood, suggests jackson. Class discussion epiphenomenal qualia by frank jackson 1. Find materials for this course in the pages linked along the left.
Pace terence horgan, jackson on physical information and qualia, philosophical quarterly, xxxiv, 5 april 1984. Epiphenomenal qualia frank jackson summary kris richard. Social neuroscience and the case for interacting brains. All of the readings listed below can be found in chalmers, ed. Frank jackson formulates the intuition underlying his jackson, f. Philosophers have long been familiar with the contrast between predicates or concepts that denote or express qualitative simples, as opposed to. Consciousness and the introspection of qualitative simples. Frank jackson epiphenomenal qualia pdf nov 29, i cant help but leaving my reading of frank jackson s epiphenomenal qualia with a sense of wonder and a grinning awe. He thinks that no amount of physical information can include certain features of bodily sensations and perceptual experiences. Jackson asks us to imagine a perceiver named fred who is like us except that he has the ability to see a hue we cannot see.
See also thomas nagel, what is it like to be a bat. This course is a philosophical introduction to the nature of minds and machines, and the issues these topics raise for the nature of personal identity. Consciousness and the introspection of qualitative simples paul m. Qualia qualitative physical state of something perceptual experience associated with a physical sensation o ex. Kris richard 91016 epiphenomenal qualia by frank jackson frank jackson immediately begins to discuss the argument of physicalists. Tell me everything physical there is to tell about what is going on in. People vary in their ability to discriminate colors. He says the heavy coats of polar bears are epiphenomenal features of evolution so they dont have to have a causal effect. Epiphenomenal qualia it is undeniable that the physical, chemical and biological sciences have provided a great deal of information about the world we live in and about ourselves. Physicalism is the theory that all things that exist can be explained through physical processes. Epiphenomenal qualia the philosophical quarterly oxford. Philosophy and science of mind encyclopedia entry english philosophy and science of mind encyclopedia entry chinese stanford encyclopedia of philosophy entry.
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