Alex Moran (Oxford) will give a talk in the international seminar of the Institut de Philosophie de Grenoble on November 18. The seminar is open to the public; all are welcome. Please see below for details.
Alex Moran (Oxford) Grounding physicalism and the knowledge argument 10:30-12:00 18 November 2021 Amphithéâtre de la MSH-Alpes 1221 avenue Centrale, 38400 Saint-Martin-d'Hères Abstract: The paper explores a neglected answer to the well-known knowledge argument against physicalism. The argument depends on a familiar story: Mary is a genius scientist living in black and white room, where she is said to know all the physical facts. She then emerges from the room and sees red for the first time. And so on and so forth. Notably, the argument assumes that even in the black and white room, Mary could know all the physical facts; moreover, this assumption is rarely challenged in the (massive) literature on this argument. However, I think that physicalists both can and should challenge it and that those who state their physicalism in terms of the notion of metaphysical grounding are uniquely well-positioned to do so. -- Kourken Michaelian http://phil-mem.org/ -- https://www.vidal-rosset.net/mailing_list_educasupphilo.html