The Knowledge Argument: Did Mary Learn Something New?

"Mary's Room" is a thought experiment proposed by philosopher Frank Jackson to explore the nature of consciousness and the limits of physical knowledge. It asks us to imagine Mary, a brilliant scientist who has lived her entire life in a black-and-white room. She knows everything there is to know—physically and scientifically—about color: the wavelengths, optics, neurological processes, and more. But she has never seen color herself.

The central question is: When Mary leaves the room and sees the color red for the first time, does she learn something new? If so, this suggests that there are non-physical aspects of consciousness—what philosophers call qualia, or subjective experiences—that can’t be fully captured by physical explanations alone. This challenges the idea that all knowledge is physical and supports the argument for dualism or some form of non-physical consciousness.

• Does Mary gain new knowledge when she sees color for the first time, or is it simply a new way of accessing information she already had? In this case, what counts as “knowledge”?
• If Mary does learn something new, does that mean physicalism is incomplete?
• How persuasive is the idea of qualia—subjective experiences that can’t be fully described through science? Do they really exist?
• Does Mary's Room support a dualist view of the mind (mental and physical being distinct), or is there a physicalist rebuttal that you find compelling?
• How does the “hard problem of consciousness” relate to Mary’s Room?

Mary’s Room: A Philosophical Thought Experiment https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGYmiQkah4o
Qualia: The Knowledge Argument https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/qualia-knowledge/
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“Philosophy” – philosophy and its applications
“Town Square” – politics and current events
“Conference Room” – open for anything
“The Lounge” – light social chat