Knowledge Tree
physical facts
Also known as: physical fact
Facts (10)
Sources
Non-physicalist Theories of Consciousness cambridge.org Dec 20, 2023 4 facts
perspectiveSome philosophers argue that if physical facts do not determine facts about meaning, then facts about meaning must be regarded as non-physical.
claimThomas Nagel argues that humans cannot deduce what it is like to be a bat, despite knowing the physical characteristics of a bat's sensory system and brain, which implies that phenomenal facts are distinct from physical facts.
claimThe 'epistemic gap' argument posits that intentional facts about meaning cannot be deduced from or explained by physical facts alone.
claimMary, a hypothetical subject who knows all physical facts about colors, learns a new phenomenal fact upon seeing a red rose for the first time, which suggests that phenomenal facts are non-physical.
The Hard Problem of Consciousness | Springer Nature Link link.springer.com 2 facts
claimThe knowledge argument against physicalism requires further definitions to distinguish between 'narrowly' and 'broadly' physical facts to be effective.
claimDavid Chalmers observes that the knowledge argument by itself does not refute physicalism because experience might supervene on the physical, meaning experience could be explicable in terms of physical facts.
Hard problem of consciousness - Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org 1 fact
claimDavid Chalmers, Joseph Levine, and Saul Kripke argue that philosophical zombies are impossible within the bounds of nature but possible within the bounds of logic, implying that facts about experience are not logically entailed by physical facts and that consciousness is irreducible.
The Conscious Mind - Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org 1 fact
formulaThe argument regarding Mary's room is formalized as: (1) upon seeing the colour red, Mary gains new knowledge of the world; (2) the fact that Mary can only gain this knowledge by acquaintance demonstrates that the experiential fact of what it is like to see red does not logically supervene on physical facts; (3) therefore, facts about consciousness are further facts about the world over and above the physical facts.
Panpsychism (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy/Fall 2015 Edition) plato.stanford.edu May 23, 2001 1 fact
quoteWilliam Clifford stated: "… we cannot suppose that so enormous a jump from one creature to another should have occurred at any point in the process of evolution as the introduction of a fact entirely different and absolutely separate from the physical fact. It is impossible for anybody to point out the particular place in the line of descent where that event can be supposed to have taken place. The only thing that we can come to, if we accept the doctrine of evolution at all, is that even in the very lowest organism, even in the Amoeba which swims about in our own blood, there is something or other, inconceivably simple to us, which is of the same nature with our own consciousness …"
Panpsychism - Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org 1 fact
referenceIn the book 'The Conscious Mind' (1996), David Chalmers concludes that consciousness is irreducible to lower-level physical facts, similar to how fundamental laws of physics are irreducible to lower-level physical facts.