Knowledge Argument Against Physicalism

Introduction
Are we able to learn about experience solely through physical information? Can this information be suffice to understand the feeling someone gets when they are experiencing something like looking at a red apple or eating said apple? Physicalist believe that all we need to know about experience can be learned through physical information. Frank Jackson, argues against that physicalist claim about physical information being sufficient. Jackson presents the Knowledge argument to provide that there is something more than just physical information and that is the phenomenal concept. In this paper, I will argue in favor of the Knowledge argument showing its strengths against physicalism.
Argument
Before dwelling into the reasons why the Knowledge argument is strong, it must be presented properly to fully understand its stance. The account of the Knowledge argument according to Frank Jackson, goes as follows; Mary is a super-scientist that has been shut away in a black and white room; completely deprived from the real world that is filled with colors. In this room, she …show more content…
Mary when she is able to exit the room and is able to have a raw feel of colors, she is able to experience a phenomenal concept. There is phenomenal qualities that are attached to experiences. In other words, it’s a subjective feeling that cannot be properly understood solely through physical information. It should be known that the Knowledge argument does not simply fall only on the experience of colors, but it goes for almost anything. For example, If I wanted to know what it felt like to taste X. I wouldn't be able to fully understand its taste by learning extensively about X. I can have all the physical information about X and even learn about resembling tastes of X, but I will never experience the subjective qualities that come with the tasting of X or what someone else’s experience when they do taste