PROPERTY DUALISM EPIPHENOMENAL QUALIA QUALIA FRANK JACKSON FAMOUSLY

PROPERTY DUALISM EPIPHENOMENAL QUALIA

QUALIA • FRANK JACKSON FAMOUSLY ARGUES THAT QUALIA ARE REAL. • QUALIA ARE SUBJECTIVE FEELINGS. • TELL ME EVERYTHING PHYSICAL THERE IS TO TELL ABOUT WHAT IS GOING ON IN A LIVING BRAIN, THE KINDS OF STATES, THE FUNCTIONAL ROLES, THEIR RELATION TO WHAT IS GOING ON OUTSIDE, YOU WILL NOT HAVE TOLD ME ABOUT THE HURTFULNESS OF PAINS, THE ITCHINESS OF ITCHES, • SO AS JACKSON SAYS, QUALIA ARE NOT PHYSICAL. • PHYSICALISM IS FALSE.

FRED AND HIS EYES • FRED HAS THE BEST COLOR VISION, EVER. • SO, HE MAKES DISCRIMINATIONS THAT NO ONE ELSE CAN, NOR COULD EVEN IMAGINE. • TESTS ON FRED SHOW WE CAN SEPARATE GROUPS OF REDS MORE FINELY THAN WE CAN.

RODS AND CONES • IMAGINE THAT FRED JUST HAS MORE RODS AND CONES THAN WE DO. • SIMILARLY, IMAGINE THAT, SOMEHOW, WE KNOW ALL THE FACTS ABOUT HIS VISION. • BUT WE KNOW, WE MAY SUPPOSE, EVERYTHING ABOUT HIS BODY, HIS BEHAVIOR, AND HIS DISPOSITIONS TO BEHAVIOR, AND ABOUT HIS INTERNAL PHYSIOLOGY, AND EVERYTHING ABOUT HISTORY THAT AND RELATION TO OTHERS. • YET WHAT DOES ALL THIS MATTER? • NO ABOUT OF PHYSICAL INFORMATION ABOUT HIM WILL TELL US WHAT HE SEES.

KNOWLEDGE ARGUMENT • SO WE KNOW ALL THE PHYSICAL FACTS ABOUT FRED. • IF WE COULD TRANSPLANT HIS OPTICAL SYSTEM INTO OURS, WE MIGHT KNOW WHAT HE SEES. • WHEN WE LEARN THIS, IT IS NOT PHYSICAL • SO, PHYSICALISM IS FALSE.

MARY THE COLOR SCIENTIST • MARY WORKS ON COLOR • AND SHE LITERALLY KNOWS ALL THE PHYSICAL FACTS ABOUT IT, AND ABOUT OUR BRAINS. • MARY HAS NEVER SEEN COLOR.

KNOWLEDGE AGAIN • YET ONE DAY, MARY LEAVES HER LABORATORY. • WHAT WILL HAPPEN? • WILL SHE LEARN ANYTHING, OR NOT? IT SEEMS OBVIOUS THAT SHE WILL LEARN SOMETHING ABOUT THE WORLD AND OUR VISUAL EXPERIENCE OF IT. BUT THEN IT IS INESCAPABLE THAT HER PREVIOUS KNOWLEDGE WAS INCOMPLETE. • MARY WILL NOT LEARN ANYTHING PHYSICAL. • INSTEAD, IN LEARNING WHAT RED LOOKS LIKE, SHE WILL LEARN SOMETHING PHENOMENAL.

THE MODAL ARGUMENT • IT IS POSSIBLE FOR THERE TO BE PEOPLE EXACTLY LIKE US PHYSICALLY, YET WHO HAVE NO MENTAL STATES. • THEREFORE, MENTAL STATES ARE NOT PHYSICAL. • BUT JACKSON NOTES THAT JUST BECAUSE WE CAN SAY WE IMAGINE SUCH ZOMBIES MEANS LITTLE. • ZOMBIES MAY NOT BE POSSIBLE.

JUST BATTY • JACKSON INSISTS THAT THE BAT ARGUMENT CONCERNS WHAT IT IS LIKE TO BE SOMETHING • BUT THE KNOWLEDGE ARGUMENT DOES NOT. • THE KNOWLEDGE ARGUMENT, RATHER, CONCERNS THE CONDITIONS FOR HAVING QUALIA.

EPIPHENOMENAL QUALIA • WHAT IS EPIPHENOMENALISM? • JACKSON DEFINES EPIPHENOMENALISM AS FOLLOWS • WHILE OUR BRAINS CONSTITUTE QUALIA, AND PRODUCE THEM, THE PROPERTIES OF HAVING CERTAIN QUALIA, THEREAFTER, NEVER CAUSE ANYTHING. • QUALIA, THEN, ARE CAUSALLY IRRELEVANT. • EVEN IF OUR VARIOUS FEELINGS SEEM CAUSAL TO US, THEY DO NOT CAUSE ANYTHING.

OBJECTION #1 • THE CONSCIOUS FEEL, SAY, OF PAIN IS WHAT CAUSES ME TO REACT, EMOTE, AND ACT. • SO QUALIA ARE CAUSAL! • JACKSON RESPONDS THAT THE BRAIN CAUSES, AND THE QUALIA ARE JUST ALONG FOR THE RIDE. • CORRELATION DOES NOT IMPLY CAUSATION.

OBJECTION #2 • NATURAL SELECTION CHOOSES TRAITS THAT HELP SURVIVAL AND REPRODUCTION. • QUALIA HELP REACT TO OUR ENVIRONMENT BETTER. • JACKSON RESPONDS THAT • SOME TRAITS ARE CONDUCIVE TO SURVIVAL. • OTHERS, HOWEVER, ARE MERE BY PRODUCTS OF THESE, AND ARE IRRELEVANT TO SURVIVAL. • QUALIA ARE LIKE THE LATTER.

EVOLUTIONARY SPANDRELS A POLAR BEAR HAS A HEAVY COAT. WHY? IT MAKE THE BEAR SLOWER AND REQUIRE THAT IT SPEND MORE ENERGY TO MOVE THE EXPLANATION IS THAT THE COAT IS NOT THERE BECAUSE IT’S HEAVY, IT’S THERE BECAUSE IT IS WARMTH REQUIRES HEAVINESS.

OBJECTION #3 • HOW THINGS BEHAVE IS EVIDENCE FOR WHAT QUALIA THEY HAVE. • YET WE ONLY DO THIS BECAUSE WE ASSUME THAT QUALIA CAUSE THE BEHAVIOR. • WITHOUT THIS, OTHERS FEELINGS WOULD BE A MYSTERY. • JACKSON RESPONDS THAT THIS IS AN ILLUSION. • THE STORY OF CAUSATION, HE SAYS, IS MORE COMPLEX THAN THIS, AND THAT IS JUST FINE.

THE CAUSAL STORY • JACKSON IS OFFERING A TRICKY STORY HERE. • THE BEHAVIOR OF OTHERS IS EVIDENCE FOR THEIR BRAINS DOING THINGS. • BUT THEN, THEIR BRAINS CAUSE QUALIA. • SO WE CAN INFER THAT BEHAVIOR, CHANGES BRAINS, WHICH IN TURN MAKES QUALIA.

FINAL OBJECTION • BUT EPIPHENOMENA, OR QUALIA, DO NOTHING. • THEIR ONLY POINT, IT SEEMS, IS TO MAKE DUALISTS FEEL BETTER, THAT THEY ARE SPIRITUAL BEINGS. • BUT AS JACKSON SAYS, PHYSICALISM HAS TOO OPTIMISTIC A VIEW OF HUMAN NATURE. • PERHAPS THERE ARE THINGS THAT JUST EXIST. • AND AS JACKSON SAYS, THESE THINGS DO NOT AID SURVIVAL, BUT ARE JUST THERE.

WISE SLUGS JACKSON WANTS US TO IMAGINE INTELLIGENT SLUGS WHO LIVE AT THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA. THEY HAVE AN ADVANCED SCIENCE. BUT AS HE SAYS, SO MUCH MORE TO THE WORLD THAT IS DREAMT OF IN THEIR PHILOSOPHY.

POSTSCRIPT • JACKSON, AMAZINGLY, TAKES ALL THIS BACK. • SO, HE PROPOSES THE MAXIM • DO NOT HAVE OPINIONS THAT OUTRUN WHAT IS REQUIRED BY THE BEST THEORY OF THEIR CAUSAL ORIGINS. • OTHERWISE, WE ARE JUST MAKING THINGS UP. • EPIPHENOMENAL QUALIA ARE JUST THINGS TO MAKE US FEEL BETTER, AFTER ALL.