Lewis's "Ability Hypothesis" (AH) is an alternative to what he calls "The Hypothesis of Phenomenal Information" (HPI). Both of these hypotheses offer to explain what Mary learns on leaving the black and white room. According to HPI, what Mary learns is information about the phenomenal character of certain types of color experience. According to AH, what Mary learns is how to do something--namely, recognize, remember, and imagine certain types of color experience.
So, here are some questions for you: Do you think that there is such a thing as phenomenal information? Why or why not? What sort of thing is phenomenal information supposed to be, and why does Lewis think it's so weird?
In thinking about these issues, it might be worth thinking about the phenomenology of color vision: What do you think it would be like for Mary on seeing red for the first time? Do you think that she would be inclined to say that this was like learning a new fact?
It would seem that there is such a thing as phenomenal information, and such knowledge would be subjective. When Mary sees red for the first time, even knowing all the physical and conceptual facts about red before hand, she would learn the fact of how red looks for HER. This should be considered a fact because it is how things are in the world; there is a certain way red looks to her, and she cannot know this fact while imprisoned. So when seeing red for the first, she IS discovering a new fact.
ReplyDeleteI am not sure I fully believe that Mary would be experiencing red for the first time when she steps out of her room. If we can think about things without ever having seen them, and we can have a priori knowledge, I do not think it is outside the realm of possibility that she has imagined red and other colors without ever seeing them. I think this is especially important if she knows all the physical facts, she may be able to know what certain experiences are like based on wavelengths of light and how our nerves and brain would interpret those wavelengths.
ReplyDeleteBasically, I do not accept that Mary thinks in black and white prior to experiencing color, especially given that she has every single physical fact about color. Even without the physical facts, I think that Mary would still think in color through some a priori knowledge, and that stepping outside of the room will at most only tell her that the colors she experienced are given certain names based on the language we speak (matching colors she thought of with the names society/language given them).
Additionally, there is a very important distinction between phenomenal information and propositional information (i.e. written facts, etc.). Some information just cannot be contained in books; writing, language, and propositions are only a few ways of gaining knowledge about the world, but they are not the only ways. Some information can only be attained through direct experience and do not translate into propositional forms.
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