Frank Jackson's Argument Against Physicalism

In this paper, I will discuss Frank Jackson's thought experiment, an argument against physicalism proposed in his article "Epiphenomenal Qualia", include an explanation as to why mental states cannot cause physical states, and how this ultimately commits him to epiphenomenalism.
Epiphenomenalism is defined as the view that mental events are caused by physical events in the brain, yet have no effect upon any physical events. That is, any stimuli detected will lead to brain states, which cause both mental states and more brain states, but there is a dead end at the mental states, since only the brain states will go on to cause behavior. From a physiological standpoint, behavior occurs when muscles contract and react in response to neural impulses, which are in turn affected by more neural impulses and bodily sensations.
Jackson's thought experiment depicts, Mary, a brilliant neurophysiologist who, has only seen a black and white room and a black and white television monitor, learns all the physical information there is to know about the color red. This could mean understanding how waves of light stimulate the retina and how this may lead to a physical action, such as an act of speech: "The …show more content…
She would have never been able to predict what she'd experience in this situation. It's a mental state that she could not acquire through passive means. Mary knows exactly what technical aspects are to explain for why the color red is red. But in comparison to the vast majority of humans who perhaps have no idea how many waves stimulate the retina when looking at the color red, Mary has no idea what it is like to see the color red because she has never seen it. Shades of red like crimson and vermillion would at least be a new experience impossible to quantify with an analysis of light wavelengths in

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