Torin Alter, "The Matter of Consciousness: From the Knowledge Argument to Russellian Monism" (Oxford UP, 2023)

In Conversation: An OUP Podcast · Jul 10, 2023 · 1h 8m

Frank Jackson’s "Knowledge Argument" introduced the philosophical world to Mary the brilliant neuroscientist, who knows everything there is to know about the physical world while living in a completely black and white environment. Yet she seems to learn something new when she leaves the room for the first time and sees and smells a red rose. So is physicalism – the claim that everything, including conscious experience, is physical – false? In The Matter of Consciousness: From the Knowledge Argument to Russellian Monism (Oxford University Press 2023), Torin Alter argues that the argument is…