Frank Jackson
Mary knows all the physics of colour without having seen it: on seeing it, does she learn something?
Life
Australian philosopher born in 1943 in Adelaide, professor at the Australian National University. His article "Epiphenomenal Qualia" (1982) launched the Mary argument, central to the debate on consciousness. He later rejected his own conclusion and defends a physicalism that takes experience seriously. He has also written on metaphysics and ethics.
Main works
Argues, with the story of Mary, that conscious experience escapes physical information.
Defends the view that moral properties are natural properties identified through ordinary moral thinking.
Explains why he gave up the Mary argument and defends physicalism.
In his own words
« It seems just obvious that she will learn something about the world and our visual experience of it. »
Positions
click a row to see the evidenceHis Mary argument first argued that experience is not purely physical; he later rejected it and defends physicalism.
Jackson, "Epiphenomenal Qualia" (1982) ; "Mind and Illusion" (2003)
Right action is judged by the outcomes it can be expected to bring about.
Jackson, "Decision-Theoretic Consequentialism and the Nearest and Dearest Objection" (1991)
Moral properties are real natural properties, identified through our ordinary moral thinking.
Jackson, From Metaphysics to Ethics (1998)