Question No: 2

Introduction

Physicalism is a theory of mind stating that all valid information is physical information.

Physical in this sense refers to consisting of matter, forces, and energy. If physicalism were to be

true, it would mean that all of our conscious mental states, which refers to the sensations,

perceptions, thoughts, and feelings that we consciously experience, are physical as well.

Jackson’s knowledge argument is a thought experiment that argues against this, and in this paper,

I will explain this argument, before explaining why I believe the argument fails. Before

continuing, knowledge, going forward, shall be synonymous to information.

Jackson’s Knowledge Argument

Jackson’s (1982) knowledge argument postulates the existence of a girl named Mary,

who is confined in a black and white room, and through books and lectures ends up gaining

complete physical information regarding reality. In other words, she supposedly knows about

everything that physically exists, possessing the sum total of humanity’s empirical knowledge.

One day, she is released from the black and white room into our world, which has colors, and

through this, she will gain new knowledge regarding what it is like to experience color. If she

sees a red apple for example, while she knows of the pigments in the apples skin, the way

photons interact with the pigments, and the way her neurons convert the information carried by

the photons into a colored vision of an apple, she will still gain completely new information, in

the mental perception of the color red.

However, if all information were truly to be physical in nature, this should be

impossible, as Mary supposedly already possesses all physical knowledge that exists. She should
already be aware that her brain will generate the mental phenomenon of the color red, as well as

what experiencing such a phenomenon would entail, and would not gain new information.

However, this is not the case, meaning that information that is not physical in nature does exist,

and physicalism is false. It then seems that the mind and our conscious mental states are not

physical in nature and constitute something else.

Complete Knowledge Assumption

One issue with this argument lies in the assumption that Mary can truly possess complete

physical knowledge regarding reality solely through reading books and listening to lectures. I

argue that this is not true, as this method of learning can only provide symbolic knowledge and

not direct knowledge. Symbolic knowledge, however, cannot provide complete knowledge

regarding a source, and direct knowledge is necessary to truly possess complete knowledge.

Given the above, Mary does not know everything physical that exists in the first place,

and the new information that she experiences upon leaving the room can be physical in nature,

meaning that the experiment cannot disprove physicalism. To explain this, I will define and

explain what direct and symbolic knowledge are.

Direct Knowledge

Direct knowledge refers to the information that originates from experience. Such

information originates from the things that we see, hear, smell, taste, touch, or feel directly

through our various sensory nerves. For example, reading a book provides us with direct

knowledge regarding the book, in terms of what the text written on it looks like, how the pages

feel when being touched, and how it sounds when opened or closed.

Symbolic Knowledge
 Symbolic knowledge, on the other hand, refers to the symbolic representations of direct

knowledge. Such symbolic representations are themselves physical forms of direct knowledge,

commonly existing as linguistic and mathematical symbols, with the symbols themselves not

possessing any inherent meaning outside of the physical information that constitutes them. For

example, the linguistic symbol “dog”, if not referring to the animal, can only convey information

regarding what “dog” looks and sounds like.

Symbols are used as vectors for transferring direct knowledge through the symbolic

transfer process, which occurs as follows. A person, to be known as a translator, first experiences

a source and gains direct knowledge regarding it. The translator will then link and translate this

information to symbols. For example, a translator who sees 2 sick dogs in Clementi would

translate the symbols “2”, which links to a state of being one more than one (Merriam-Webster,

2022), “sick”, which links to a state of being in poor health, and “dog”, which links to the

animal, and so on, from their direct perception of the dogs.

The translator then transfers the symbols to the receiver, who translates these symbols

back into the direct knowledge linked to them. For example, if I told you “The 2 dogs in

Clementi are sick”, you would translate each symbol back into the linked information mentioned

previously, allowing you to perceive the dogs for yourself without having to directly do so.

Receivers, through this process, can hence gain complete information regarding a source without

having to directly perceive it. This is the process that we use to indirectly obtain information

regarding sources, and that which Jackson claims will allow Mary to possess complete

knowledge regarding everything physical. However, this process can only provide complete

information under certain conditions.

Conditions for Complete Information Transfer

 The symbolic transfer process can only provide complete information regarding a source

when a set of conditions are fulfilled.

Firstly, the translator needs to possess complete direct knowledge regarding the source. I

will need to experience everything about the 2 sick dogs in Clementi, down to the positions of all

the constituent atoms present, in order to possess complete direct knowledge. Secondly, the

complete translation of all information into symbols is required. I will need to translate all the

information regarding the situation, including information of the time, weather, atom positions,

and so on, into their respective symbols in order to possess complete symbolic knowledge.

Thirdly, the translator needs to transfer all symbols to the receiver. After I gain complete

symbolic knowledge regarding the dogs, I will need to transfer all the symbols I possess to you

in order for complete information to be transferred. These conditions occur on the translator end,

and are possible in the experiment.

On the receiver end, the translation back to direct knowledge has to be perfect. After I

transfer the “dog” symbol to you for example, you will need to be able to perfectly imagine a

dog to the point where it is identical to direct experience of a dog, and this has to occur for all

transferred symbols, in order to possess complete knowledge regarding the dogs. Furthermore,

all translators and receivers need to have identical symbolic-informational links. The information

that you link to “dog”, for example, has to be exactly the same as the information I attach to

“dog”, in order for you to directly experience the same dog I do. Even if the first condition can

be granted, due to logical possibility, the second cannot, and through this the transfer process

will fail. The reason that Mary cannot possess identical symbolic-informational links to everyone

else shall be explained next.

Symbolic-Informational Link Differences

 Symbolic-informational links are formed when a person directly experiences a source and

links the information to a symbol. In order for everyone to possess identical links, there is then a

need for everyone to experience the same information and to link said information to the same

symbol. The latter is possible, and is what facilitates language.

The former, however, cannot be granted due to the individual differences that may

prevent some people from being able to directly experience certain information. For example,

someone who has been blind their entire life will have had no direct visual experiences. They

will then only be able to link nonvisual information to vision related symbols, such as “light” or

“blue”, compared to someone with vision, and will possess different symbolic-information links

from other people. In other words, no matter how hard you try to pass visual information to blind

individuals through explanation, it is impossible. We can hence see that symbolic knowledge can

only be used to transfer information that both parties already possess, and cannot create new

information that a party may lack from other forms of it.

With Regard to Mary

Mary, as such, who has never directly experienced color before, will still lack knowledge

regarding color even with all the books and lectures provided by Jackson’s experiment, due to

the above reason. As such, Mary does not truly possess complete knowledge regarding

everything physical. Hence, while she will still gain new knowledge upon leaving the room, in

the form of mental experiences of color, such mental states can be physical, and it remains

possible for physicalism to be true.

 Counterargument to Counterargument Against Jackson

One possible counterargument to the argument is that since the identicality of symbolic-

informational links is the only condition that cannot be granted, Mary can still possess color

information through the combination of information. For example, it is possible for someone

who has never eaten monkey brain before to perceive its tastes through asking them to imagine a

“nutty”, “creamy”, and “salty” flavor, and recreating color experiences through black and white

experiences remains possible as well. While I believe that this is impossible due to the concept of

basal knowledge, I have also run out of words, and will have to end it here.

Word Count: 1498

 References

Jackson, F. (1982). Epiphenomenal qualia. The Philosophical Quarterly, 32(127), 127.

https://doi.org/10.2307/2960077

Merriam-Webster. (n.d.). Two definition & meaning. Merriam-Webster. Retrieved November 7,

2022, from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/two