Single Idea 7880

[catalogued under 17. Mind and Body / E. Mind as Physical / 7. Anti-Physicalism / c. Knowledge argument]

Full Idea

An ornithological Mary might know everything theoretical about kestrels, but be blind from birth, then have her sight restored. She now knows "That bird eats mice", so visual kestrels must be ontologically distinct from theoretical ones.

Gist of Idea

If a blind persons suddenly sees a kestrel, that doesn't make visual and theoretical kestrels different

Source

comment on Frank Jackson (Epiphenomenal Qualia [1982]) by David Papineau - Thinking about Consciousness 6.3

Book Reference

Papineau,David: 'Thinking about Consciousness' [OUP 2004], p.166


A Reaction

A nice reductio, and I think this pinpoints best what is wrong with the knowledge argument. Knowledge, and the means of acquiring it, are two distinct things. When I see x, I don't acquire knowledge of x, AND knowledge of my seeing x.