Are physical facts, the only knowable facts? Knowable facts consist of physical and nonphysical facts. However, physicalist believe that all aspects of the world consist of only physical facts, that can be explained by physical means, physical objects, or physical properties. According to Jackson, physical facts are not the only knowable facts. To substantiate his belief, Jackson develops the knowledge argument, which proposes that there is a scientist named Mary who comes to learn all of the physical facts about the world, including color perception, color vision, and the cortical brain regions associated with seeing color; all while being locked inside a black and white room. One day Mary is released into the world and sees a red tomato for …show more content…
For Lewis, knowing what an experience is like does not involve the acquisition of information because it is equivalent to saying knowing what it is like to imagine, recognize, and remember having a particular experience However, how does these abilities account for the fact that Mary is able to gain knowledge of others experience and not just of her own experience of seeing red. It does not; and this is where Jackson’s argument succeeds. By turning Mary into a skeptic, Jackson is able to exactly pinpoint what knowledge of fact Mary has actually acquired. Mary has learned that others have a mind similar to her own. When she sees the red tomato Mary can say this is what it’s like to see the color read and this is what it’s like for others to experience the color red as well. In the black and white room there is no way for Mary to imagine what it its like for others to see red, if she never experienced it herself. Jackson’s response to Lewis demonstrates this well with skepticism because what is truly being questioned is if Mary knows certain facts about other people’s experiences or if she only thinks that she knows them. Mary’s abilities to recognize, and imagine red are not being compromised because Mary is certain that she has a mind and that experience she has when seeing the red tomato is what it is like for her to see the color