Galen Strawson

The thought experiment of "The Problem of Mary" was generated by Frank Jackson to exhibit the non-physical characteristic of the mental state. The experiment goes as the following: Mary, a brilliant scientist, has lived her life surrounded by only a black and white setting. She did not have access to color, for there were not even any colored devices that she owned in her room. Mary acquires access to the outside world only through her computer, which only as a black and white display as well.…

stages of one’s life including genetic traits, the environment by which one is surrounded, and even things that may affect the outcome of a choice or action (Hwang 5). Hwang ties this issue into an argument against libertarian free will made by Galen Strawson. The argument goes that because one is not able “to fully control or influence their own existence,” a problem for which Hwang cannot offer a solution, nobody can assign a “moral evaluation on an agent’s decision” (6). By this logic, he…