What Does Mary KnowThis is a featured page

This thought experiment was originally proposed by Frank Jackson as follows:

“ Mary is a brilliant scientist who is, for whatever reason, forced to investigate the world from a black and white room via a black and white television monitor. She specializes in the neurophysiology of vision and acquires, let us suppose, all the physical information there is to obtain about what goes on when we see ripe tomatoes, or the sky, and use terms like ‘red’, ‘blue’, and so on. She discovers, for example, just which wavelength combinations from the sky stimulate the retina, and exactly how this produces via the central nervous system the contraction of the vocal chords and expulsion of air from the lungs that results in the uttering of the sentence ‘The sky is blue’. [...] What will happen when Mary is released from her black and white room or is given a color television monitor? Will she learn anything or not? [1] ”

In other words, we are to imagine a scientist who knows everything there is to know about the science of color, but has never experienced color. The interesting question that Jackson raises is: Once she experiences color, does she learn anything new? What does this imply about knowledge? But more so, about the relation between mind and brain?


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Anonymous Something About Mary 2 Sep 27 2009, 3:03 PM EDT by Anonymous
 
Thread started: Jan 16 2009, 12:23 AM EST  Watch
Hypothesis:When Mary leaves the room and her black and white world she will get a huge shock. She will also learn a lot. I expect she will be happy. There is a big difference in the sensations from a black and white versus a color world.
Set Up: When I was thinking about this I tried to come up with other examples. Things we think about then do. My idea was to compare how I felt and thought about something before I experienced it and after.
Experiment: Examples like flying in a plane, driving a car, going to college, shooting a rifle, jumping out of a helicopter. For all of these things the experience is very different from the theoretical knowledge. Therefore there must be two different kinds of knowledge. The kind that comes from experience and a kind that comes from studying theory. We learn and remember the experience kind of knowledge more easily. At least I do.
Experiment Results: We are only able to personally experience a limited amount because life is short. To learn most we must learn from other peoples experience and from studying theories as they summarize the learning and experiences of many other people. The fact that we learn something different implies that the mind and the brain do not operate with experience and theory as interchangeable. We are not made just by our experiences but they are certainly very important. More important than our theoretical learning.
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Anonymous something about mary 0 Dec 19 2008, 2:59 AM EST by Anonymous
 
Thread started: Dec 19 2008, 2:59 AM EST  Watch
If something has knowledge without experience, I do not believe they have knowledge at all. While you can know about something, without actually experiencing it, knowledge is really only words.
A scientist is set up in a black and white room, with a black and white tv. She knows all there is to know about color, but has never actually seen color, therefore never actually experienced it.
When Mary is no longer confined in her black and white room, I think she will not know what to make of her new found knowledge. All the things she had thought beforehand, all the things she had created in her mind, were based off of things she had seen. Since she had only seen black and white her whole life, seeing color will completely redefine any knowledge she previously had. She will definitely learn something, and that knowledge will be completely different from what she had before.
In conclusion, experience is what makes knowledge. Without experience, knowledge can only go so far. We can study something all we want, but until we experience it, we will never truly understand it. So while Mary has true knowledge, real knowledge will only come after she is released from her black and white room into an experience of true color.

posted by: Rachel Higuera
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deedsamene Something about Mary 0 Dec 18 2008, 2:58 PM EST by deedsamene
Thread started: Dec 18 2008, 2:58 PM EST  Watch
*Hypothesis: My hypothesis is that if a person knows everything about a particular subject without actually experiencing that subject will they be learning anything when they actually come into contact with the subject
*Experimental Set Up: The set-up is that this scientist, Mary, knows everything there is to know about color and how and why we perceive and say it to be true, but she is has been in black and white all her life, i.e. never seeing color, the question of whether or not when she goes into the real world will color surprise or not is what we don’t know.
*Experimental Results: I think that Mary will have a cultural shock when she actually leaves the room, and experiences color for the first time. Experiencing something is so much more different than learning about it. One can only learn so much, but the second they step into the real world and see it for the first time, there is no changing that. Having only the sight of black and white while you are learning everything about color, is like a blind person learning everything about color, they are still yet to see it, so they cant truly know it until they experience it.
*Conclusion regarding initial hypothesis: Experiences change everything. So while Mary thinks she is well informed, the second she gets out of her room, she might even cry from what will hit her. Experiences help us develop as a people, and until one experiences something they can never learn from it. Having an understanding and an experience completely changes the way you look at the subject be it color, or something else in life, people grow from things that involve both and later it helps shape their identities.
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