What does Jackson's Knowledge Argument show Essay

What does Jackson's Knowledge Argument show - Essay Example It endeavors to dispute the theory that all knowledge is physical knowledge Mary that Jackson uses in his experiment is a renowned scientist who has a fully-fledged awareness of color but has never had the opportunity to experience color. The question of utmost interest here is whether upon realizing color she will be able to learn something new. In this experiment, the major assumption is the fact that she has prior physical knowledge of color before her release from the black and white room. When she was released from the black and white room she obtained new knowledge. Based on this premise, it was justifiable to conclude that knowledge in its entirety is not physical (Nida-Rà ¼melin, 13). The fact that Mary acquired new knowledge upon her alteration of the environment is proof enough that â€Å"qualia† is valid and exists. Qualia refer to the subjective, qualitative characteristics of experiences that are deemed to be free from the influence of behavior and disposition (Jackson, 7). Jackson asserts that the quale are real and that there is glaring distinction between an individual who has access to a particular quale and one who is not privy to the same. The knowledge argument propagates that if indeed Mary evidently learned something new when she experienced color, then the theory of physicalism is a fallacy. According to the knowledge argument, one is only capable of the experience of color if she gets to have a visual contact with it. The premise here is that despite the fact that Mary was proficient in the science of color perception, she learned something new through experiencing it. In his seminal article, Jackson differs with other proponents of knowledge theory by analyzing the case of a person, Fred, who is capable of seeing color which is unknown to normal human perceivers (Jackson, 17). The knowledge argument is based on the premise that a person, who has a complete physical knowledge on