Phenomenal Concepts and Phenomenal Knowledge
January 1, 2007 Torin Alter, Sven Walter 50 citations
This book examines the nature of consciousness and its relationship to brain processes, focusing on phenomenal consciousness—what it is like to have an experience. A central controversy is whether physicalism (the view that the mind is physical) can account for consciousness. The discussion centers on Frank Jackson's thought experiment of Mary, a scientist who knows all physical facts about color vision while confined to a black-and-white room. Intuitively, Mary learns something new when she first sees color, which seems to challenge physicalism. The book explores whether this challenge can be defused by appealing to how phenomenal concepts and knowledge work, or whether the problem persists at the level of those concepts themselves.