Tutorial #6. Consciousness. The Knowledge argument. Discussion Questions

After having read Churchland (1985) "Reduction, Qualia and the Direct Introspection of Brain States", and after having got through Jackson's Knowledge Argument, try to think about these questions.

• What are qualia?
• Is consciousness the mark of the mental?
• How could the sciences (e.g. neurosciences, psychology, anthropology, etc) help us understand consciousness?<
• When Mary leaves her black-and-white room, does she acquire knowledge (in any sense)?
• Does she acquire factual (propositional) knowledge?
• Does her new knowledge consist in learning new facts (facts she did not previously know)? Or does she merely represent old facts in a new way? Does the Ability Hypothesis provide a successful response to the knowledge argument?
• What are qualia?
• What is the Explanatory Gap, and is it possible to close it?
• Can you explain to someone what it is like to taste Nutella?
• Consider such features of scientific method as publicity and objectivity. Is consciousness intrinsically private and subjective? Can it be studied scientifically?
• If consciousness is not reducible to physics (i.e. cannot be explained in physical terms), would it follow that physicalism (i.e. the thesis that everything is physical) is false? Or rather, that consciousness doesn’t exist (since physicalism is true)?