Introduction Knowledge Arguemnt Modal Argument Nagel’s Argument The Causal Role of Qualia Objections and Responses Jackson

Jackson Ephiphenomenal Qualia

2019-11-29
Jackson Ephiphenomenal Qualia

Medi Chaitanya

University of Hyderabad

11th October

Jackson Ephiphenomenal Qualia

Medi Chaitanya

University of Hyderabad

11th October

Medi Chaitanya University of Hyderabad

Jackson Ephiphenomenal Qualia
Introduction Knowledge Arguemnt Modal Argument Nagel’s Argument The Causal Role of Qualia Objections and Responses Jackson Ephiphenomenal Qualia

2019-11-29
Jackson Ephiphenomenal Qualia

Summary of the paper Medi Chaitanya

University of Hyderabad

11th October

Introduction
Summary of the paper
General Argument
Knowledge Arguemnt
Modal Argument
Nagel’s Argument
The Causal Role of Qualia
Objections and Responses
Objection-1
Response-1
Objection-2
Response-2
Medi Chaitanya University of Hyderabad
Jackson Ephiphenomenal Qualia
Introduction Knowledge Arguemnt Modal Argument Nagel’s Argument The Causal Role of Qualia Objections and Responses Jackson Ephiphenomenal Qualia The main theme of the paper

2019-11-29
Introduction Jockson maintains that physicalism is refuted by the fact that no

Summary of the paper Summary of the paper amount of physical information could ever enable us to know what
it is like to undergo a pain, have an itch, taste a lemon, smell a
rose, hear a loud noise, or see the sky. He concludes that qualia are
”Ephiphenomenal” i.e., ”their presence or absence doesn’t make

The main theme of the paper any difference to the physical world”. and he also wants to proef
the causal inefficiency of qualia as such.

The main theme of the paper

There are certain features of the bodily sensations especially, but also of
certain perceptual experiences, which no amount of purely physical infor-
Jockson maintains that physicalism is refuted by the fact that no mation includes.
amount of physical information could ever enable us to know what
it is like to undergo a pain, have an itch, taste a lemon, smell a
rose, hear a loud noise, or see the sky. He concludes that qualia are
”Ephiphenomenal” i.e., ”their presence or absence doesn’t make
any difference to the physical world”. and he also wants to proef
the causal inefficiency of qualia as such.

Medi Chaitanya University of Hyderabad

Jackson Ephiphenomenal Qualia
Introduction Knowledge Arguemnt Modal Argument Nagel’s Argument The Causal Role of Qualia Objections and Responses Jackson Ephiphenomenal Qualia Background

2019-11-29
Introduction
Summary of the paper Summary of the paper I What is Physicalism
I Otto Neurath and Rudolf Carnap versions of Physicalism
I What is Qualia

Background
Background
Physicalism is the thesis that everything is physical, or that everything
supervenes on the physical. It is intended as a metaphysical thesis. lin-
guistic thesis that every statement is synonymous with (i.e. is equivalent
in meaning with) some physical statement. But materialism as tradition-
I What is Physicalism
ally construed is not a linguistic thesis at all; rather it is a metaphysical
I Otto Neurath and Rudolf Carnap versions of Physicalism thesis in the sense that it tells us about the nature of the world. At least
I What is Qualia for the positivists, therefore, there was a clear reason for distinguishing
physicalism (a linguistic thesis) from materialism (a metaphysical thesis)

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Jackson Ephiphenomenal Qualia
Introduction Knowledge Arguemnt Modal Argument Nagel’s Argument The Causal Role of Qualia Objections and Responses Jackson Ephiphenomenal Qualia The Argument to refute physicalism

2019-11-29
Introduction
General Argument General Argument ”Nothing you could tell of a physical sort captures the smell
of a rose, for instance. Therefore, Physicalism is false.”

The Argument to refute physicalism

The Argument to refute physicalism
For those who believes in the existence of non-physical things (lika Qualia),
this arguemnts is fairly unargubly intutive. But, for some it it is not.So,
his job is to demonstarte an argument whose premises are intutive to
everybody.
”Nothing you could tell of a physical sort captures the smell
of a rose, for instance. Therefore, Physicalism is false.”

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Jackson Ephiphenomenal Qualia
Introduction Knowledge Arguemnt Modal Argument Nagel’s Argument The Causal Role of Qualia Objections and Responses Jackson Ephiphenomenal Qualia The Knwoledge Argument

2019-11-29
Knowledge Arguemnt
I Fred Example
I What kind of experience does Fred have when he sees red,
and red2? What is the new colour or colours like?ke?

The Knwoledge Argument I Mary’s Example

The Knwoledge Argument

We would dearly like to know but do not; and it seems that no amount of
physical information about Fred’s brain and optical system tells us. way.
Fred example- After the operation, we will know more about Fred and
especially about his colour experiences. But beforehand we had all the
I Fred Example physical information we could desire about his body and physiology.
I What kind of experience does Fred have when he sees red, that the qualia are left out of the physicalist story. And the polemical
and red2? What is the new colour or colours like?ke? strength of the Knowledge argument is that it is so hard to deny the
central claim that one can have all the physical information without
I Mary’s Example
having all the information there is to have.
Mary Doesn’t have knowledge about the experiences of others, not her
own. what she did not know until her release is not a physical fact about
their experiences. But it is a fact about them. That is the trouble for
physicalism.

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Jackson Ephiphenomenal Qualia
Introduction Knowledge Arguemnt Modal Argument Nagel’s Argument The Causal Role of Qualia Objections and Responses Jackson Ephiphenomenal Qualia Thought experimentt

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Modal Argument
I Philosophical Zombie Experiment

Thought experimentt
Thought experimentt
What is it that we have and they lack? Not anything physical ex hypothesi.
In all regards we and they are exactly alike. Consequently there is no more
to us than the purely physical. Thus physicalism is false.
One way of denying the modal argument is to deny that there can be
physical replicas of us in other nevertheless lacks consciousness.
I Philosophical Zombie Experiment

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Jackson Ephiphenomenal Qualia
Introduction Knowledge Arguemnt Modal Argument Nagel’s Argument The Causal Role of Qualia Objections and Responses Jackson Ephiphenomenal Qualia The ”WHAT IS IT LIKE TO BE” Argument

2019-11-29
Nagel’s Argument
I ”No amount of physical information can tell us what it is like
to be a bat, and indeed that we, human beings, cannot
imagine what it is like to be a bat”
I Jockson’s Objection
The ”WHAT IS IT LIKE TO BE” Argument
The ”WHAT IS IT LIKE TO BE” Argument
Nagel speaks as if the problem he is raisng is extrapolating from knowledge
of one experience to another, of imagining what an unfamiliar experience
would be like on the basis of unfamiliar ones. Nagel argues that the bats
I ”No amount of physical information can tell us what it is like are too unlike us. It is hard to see any objection to Physicalism coz it
to be a bat, and indeed that we, human beings, cannot makes no special claims about the imaginative or extrapolative powers of
imagine what it is like to be a bat” human beings, and it is hard to see why it is so.
I Jockson’s Objection

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Jackson Ephiphenomenal Qualia
Introduction Knowledge Arguemnt Modal Argument Nagel’s Argument The Causal Role of Qualia Objections and Responses
The Bogey of Ephiphenomanalism
I Mental states are inefficacious with respect to the physical
world.
1. Hurtfullness causes some behaviour, but both can be pin down
to a common cause i.e., certain happenings in the brain.
2. Objection relates to Darwin theory of evolution- Acc. to
natural selection, that traits that evolve over time are those
that are condusive to physical survival and one can assume
qualia to be an evolved traits.
3. Problem of other minds-
Medi Chaitanya
Jackson Ephiphenomenal Qualia
Jackson Ephiphenomenal Qualia The Bogey of Ephiphenomanalism
2019-11-29
The Causal Role of Qualia I Mental states are inefficacious with respect to the physical
world.
1. Hurtfullness causes some behaviour, but both can be pin down
to a common cause i.e., certain happenings in the brain.
2. Objection relates to Darwin theory of evolution- Acc. to
natural selection, that traits that evolve over time are those
The Bogey of Ephiphenomanalism that are condusive to physical survival and one can assume
qualia to be an evolved traits.
3. Problem of other minds-
1. Mental states are inefficacious with respect to the physical world. All be
concerned to defend is that it is possible to hold that certain properties of
certain mental states(qualia), are such that possession or absence makes
no difference to the physical world. 2. The mental is totally causally
inefficacious.
1. A causes B can be overturned by an over-arching theory which
shows the two as distinct effects of a common underlying causal
process A - Hurtfulness, B- Behaviour
2. Qulaia are by product of certain brain processess that are highly
conducive to survival
3. How can a person’s behaviour provide any reason for believing he
has qualia like mine, or indeed any qualia at all, unless this
behaviour can be regarded as the outcome of the qualia. the
epiphenomenalist can argue from the behaviour of others to the
University of Hyderabad qualia of others by arguing from the behaviour of others back to its
Introduction Knowledge Arguemnt Modal Argument Nagel’s Argument The Causal Role of Qualia Objections and Responses Jackson Ephiphenomenal Qualia The Bogey of Ephiphenomanalism

2019-11-29
The Causal Role of Qualia I Mental states are inefficacious with respect to the physical
world.
1. Hurtfullness causes some behaviour, but both can be pin down

Objection-1 to a common cause i.e., certain happenings in the brain.

2. Objection relates to Darwin theory of evolution- Acc. to
natural selection, that traits that evolve over time are those

[current] The Bogey of Ephiphenomanalism that are condusive to physical survival and one can assume
qualia to be an evolved traits.
3. Problem of other minds-

1. Mental states are inefficacious with respect to the physical world. All be
concerned to defend is that it is possible to hold that certain properties of
certain mental states(qualia), are such that possession or absence makes
no difference to the physical world. 2. The mental is totally causally
inefficacious.
1. A causes B can be overturned by an over-arching theory which
shows the two as distinct effects of a common underlying causal
process A - Hurtfulness, B- Behaviour
2. Qulaia are by product of certain brain processess that are highly
conducive to survival
3. How can a person’s behaviour provide any reason for believing he
has qualia like mine, or indeed any qualia at all, unless this
behaviour can be regarded as the outcome of the qualia. the
epiphenomenalist can argue from the behaviour of others to the
Medi Chaitanya University of Hyderabad qualia of others by arguing from the behaviour of others back to its
Jackson Ephiphenomenal Qualia
Introduction Knowledge Arguemnt Modal Argument Nagel’s Argument The Causal Role of Qualia Objections and Responses Jackson Ephiphenomenal Qualia The Problem of ”eqivocal” use of knowledge in the

2019-11-29
Objections and Responses premises
Mary’s thought experiment can be formaulated as the
following

Objection-1 Objection-1 1. Mary knows everything there is to know about brain states
and their properties.
2. It is not the case that Mary knows everything there is to know

The Problem of ”eqivocal” use of knowledge in about sensations and their properties.
3. Therefore, by Leibniz law, Sensations and their properties
brain states and their properties.

The Problem of ”eqivocal” use of knowledge in the the premises The univocal use of ”knows about”- Knowledge by
description in 1 and knowledge by acquitance in 2

premises Leibniz law has two conditions 1. The Indiscernibility of Identicals- If x is

Mary’s thought experiment can be formaulated as the identical to y, then for any property x has, y has and for any property y
following has, x has 2. The Identity of Indiscernibles-If for any property x has, y has,
and for any property y has, x has, then x is identical to y.
1. Mary knows everything there is to know about brain states
and their properties.
2. It is not the case that Mary knows everything there is to know
about sensations and their properties.
3. Therefore, by Leibniz law, Sensations and their properties
brain states and their properties.
The univocal use of ”knows about”- Knowledge by
description in 1 and knowledge by acquitance in 2

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Jackson Ephiphenomenal Qualia
Introduction Knowledge Arguemnt Modal Argument Nagel’s Argument The Causal Role of Qualia Objections and Responses Jackson Ephiphenomenal Qualia

2019-11-29
Objections and Responses 1. Mary (before her release) knows everything physical there is
to know about other people.
2. Mary (before her release) does not know everything there is to
know about other people (because she learns something about

Response-1 Response-1 them on her release).

3. Therefore,there are truths about other people (and herself)
which escape the physicalist story.
What is immediately to the point is not the kind, manner, or type
of knowledge Mary has, but what she knows. What she knows
beforehand is ex hypothesi everything physical there is to know,
but is it everything there is to know? That is the crucial question.

1. Mary (before her release) knows everything physical there is

to know about other people.
2. Mary (before her release) does not know everything there is to
know about other people (because she learns something about
them on her release).
3. Therefore,there are truths about other people (and herself)
which escape the physicalist story.
What is immediately to the point is not the kind, manner, or type
of knowledge Mary has, but what she knows. What she knows
beforehand is ex hypothesi everything physical there is to know,
but is it everything there is to know? That is the crucial question.

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Jackson Ephiphenomenal Qualia
Introduction Knowledge Arguemnt Modal Argument Nagel’s Argument The Causal Role of Qualia Objections and Responses Jackson Ephiphenomenal Qualia Challengng Premise-2

2019-11-29
Objections and Responses
Objection-2 Objection-2 The challenge, mounted by David Lewis and Laurence Nemirow, is
that on her release Mary does not learn something or acquire
knowledge in the relevant sense, but acquires a certain
representational or imaginative ability; it is knowledge how rather

Challengng Premise-2 than knowledge that.

Challengng Premise-2
A physicalist can admit that Mary acquires something very significant of
a knowledge kind-which can hardly be denied- without admitting that this
shows that her earlier factual knowledge is defective. She knew all that
The challenge, mounted by David Lewis and Laurence Nemirow, is there was to know about the experi- ences of others beforehand, but lacked
that on her release Mary does not learn something or acquire an ability until after her release.
knowledge in the relevant sense, but acquires a certain
representational or imaginative ability; it is knowledge how rather
than knowledge that.

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Jackson Ephiphenomenal Qualia
Introduction Knowledge Arguemnt Modal Argument Nagel’s Argument The Causal Role of Qualia Objections and Responses Jackson Ephiphenomenal Qualia She acquires more than just abilities

2019-11-29
Objections and Responses Suppose she received a lecture on skepticism about other minds
while she was incarcerated. On her release she sees a ripe tomato

Response-2 Response-2 in normal conditions, and so has a sensation of red. Her first
reaction is to say that she now knows more about the kind of
experiences others have when looking at ripe tomatoes. She then
remembers the lecture and starts to worry. Does she really know
She acquires more than just abilities more about what their experiences are like, or is she
indulging in a wild generalization from one case?
She knows more than abilities. She knows some physical facts too.

She acquires more than just abilities

Suppose she received a lecture on skepticism about other minds

while she was incarcerated. On her release she sees a ripe tomato
in normal conditions, and so has a sensation of red. Her first
reaction is to say that she now knows more about the kind of
experiences others have when looking at ripe tomatoes. She then
remembers the lecture and starts to worry. Does she really know
more about what their experiences are like, or is she
indulging in a wild generalization from one case?
She knows more than abilities. She knows some physical facts too.

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Jackson Ephiphenomenal Qualia