Frank Jackson's Knowledge Argument

Frank Jackson (1986) was one of the many philosophers that sort to explain the knowledge that surrounds understanding the world’s environment, human beings themselves and the interactions that occur between the two. In response to physicalism, the view that a physical theory of nature can fully describe mental activity and consequently, the world in its entirety is physical (Lycan, 1998), Jackson proposed the Knowledge Argument (Jackson, 1986). This argument aimed to establish the notion that conscious experience encompasses more than physical properties alone. Jackson thus, established the idea that a person who holds complete physical knowledge can know everything explained explicitly in physical language and hence, is susceptible to a lack

This is despite being confined to life spent in a room, in which the only visible colours are black and white. It is then that Jackson suggests, Mary is exposed to colour for the first time. Jackson’s Knowledge argument uses this to propose that upon seeing colour Mary learns something new and as a result of knowing all physical facts prior, she learns something non-physical (Jackson, 1986). This argument can be summarised by the

Firstly, this approach rationalises, in physical terms why knowing what it is like to see colour cannot be achieved with objective facts alone. Instead, it requires subjective processes which involve the ability to remember, recognise and imagine seeing colour. Continually, the approach explains why these subjective experiences are linguistically incommunicable and consequently, why there was a void in Mary’s knowledge, despite knowing all objective facts, prior to leaving the room. This results from a fact identified by Lewis, who claimed many abilities cannot be conferred through verbal communication alone and “that is why music students have to practise” (Lycan, 1998). However, it is important to acknowledge that whilst this objection provides a substantial claim for why physicalism is still existent within the Mary example, the approach taken by the Knowledge argument itself is