Property Dualism and Consciousness
Evaluate whether zombies and Mary's new knowledge show that phenomenal properties are non-physical.
How to study A-level Philosophy
Learn each position as an argument, connect it to its strongest objection and reply, then decide what conclusion the dialectic supports.
Core concepts
Concept 1
Property dualism holds that mental properties are irreducible even if there is only one kind of substance.
Exam cue: State what the zombie shares physically and what it lacks phenomenally.
Concept 2
Chalmers's zombie argument moves from the conceivability of a physical duplicate without consciousness to the possibility of non-physical qualia.
Exam cue: Distinguish new propositional knowledge from a new ability or acquaintance.
Concept 3
Jackson's Mary argument claims that complete physical knowledge omits what an experience is like.
Exam cue: Test the move from an epistemic gap in our concepts to an ontological gap in properties.
Targeted study blocks
Specified core
Secure the claim and its place in the debate
Compare Chalmers's zombie argument and Jackson's Mary argument with ability, acquaintance and old-fact-new-mode replies.
Philosophical work
Reconstruct, challenge and judge the argument
Track each premise from conceptual possibility to metaphysics and decide whether the explanatory gap establishes non-physical properties.
Risk pitfalls and guardrails
Treating a zombie as merely an unconscious or badly behaved human.
Guardrail: Do not replace philosophical reasoning with quotation, biography, intuition or a philosopher's name.
Assuming Mary learns nothing because she already knows every physical fact.
Guardrail: Do not replace philosophical reasoning with quotation, biography, intuition or a philosopher's name.
Using conceivability as unchallenged proof of possibility.
Guardrail: Do not replace philosophical reasoning with quotation, biography, intuition or a philosopher's name.
Memory anchors
Property dualism
Property dualism holds that irreducible mental properties exist without a separate mental substance.
Philosophical zombie
A zombie is physically and functionally identical to us but lacks conscious experience.
Knowledge argument
Mary's case argues that complete physical knowledge omits phenomenal knowledge.
Ability reply
The ability reply says Mary gains know-how rather than a new fact.
Acquaintance reply
The acquaintance reply says Mary meets a familiar physical fact in a new experiential way.
Checkpoint rule
Do the check-up only after you can summarize each concept in one sentence and identify one dangerous pitfall from memory.
Knowledge Check (after reading)
Short check-up to confirm understanding of this module.
Check-up Questions
What is property dualism?
How does property dualism differ from substance dualism?
Answer all questions to submit.
Next step personalized recommendations
Continue learning
Move forward only after this module is stable.
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