Single Idea 4594

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

Full Idea

Imagine a neuroscientist who is intimately familiar with the physiology of headaches, but who has never actually experienced a headache.

Gist of Idea

A scientist could know everything about the physiology of headaches, but never have had one

Source

John Heil (Philosophy of Mind [1998], Ch.3)

Book Reference

Heil,John: 'Philosophy of Mind' [Routledge 1998], p.55


A Reaction

A more realistic version of Frank Jackson's 'Mary'. Doctors need to know that headaches are unpleasant; what they actually feel like seems irrelevant (epiphenomenal). What's it like to only have two pairs of shoes?