Howard Robinson: why there is no such thing as naturalism

I'm still working my way through both the video and the paper...there is lot to grasp here.

One thing I did like and is worth a mention is him noting that it is not just color that is phenomenal in Mary's Room but also our very perception of space-time and subsequently the measuring of it that leads to notions of the "physical". Thus the entirety of Mary and her Room are also phenomenal.

Essentially, the "physical" is born from conscious observation and mental work of maths, yet it seems incoherent to try and think of this "physical" stuff as somehow outside any conception of conscious awareness of it.

I think this suggests that "at the bottom" Dualist conceptions are about two places that are equally "physical" and "mental"...and ultimately made up of the same "stuff".

OTOH I can understand Dualist complaint that the Monist is "jumping the gun", so to speak, and ignoring that way in which we've seen the paranormal work which suggests at least two realms of reality with their somewhat distinct habits/laws of nature.

[Ninshub]

So the Knowledge Argument is apparently this Mary's Room thought experiment, and Robinson and philosopher Frank Jackson both came up with versions of it in the same year 1982. That's when Robinson published his first (impactful) work, Matter and Sense: a Critique of Contemporary Materialism. He's been at it a while!

The argument fills up a whole book in 2004 cutely called There's Something About Mary, with Robinson and Jackson duking it out with Chalmers, Churchland, Dennett and several others.

+ Kastrup and Robinson know each other. (Still don't know if Robinson qualifies as an "idealist" though!)