Re: A troubling paradox...

Fred Mailhot wrote:
> Hi everyone...
>
> I came across the following (allegedly due to Russell) in an article by
> someone or other a few days ago and have been pondering it ever since...I'm
> not sure what to make of it or what it (fails to?) convinces me of...
>
> "A seeing man knows more than a blind man does (e.g. he knows what it's like
> to see the colour red). But a blind man can be taught (in principle) all of
> physics. Therefore, whatever it is that the seeing man knows that the blind
> man does not is not part of physics."
>
> Aside from the fact that I dislike the "what it's like" turn of phrase, I
> think there's a problem here with the notion that being "taught all of
> physics" really constitutes knowledge in the relevant sense...
>
>
> Anyway...does anyone have comments, or pointers to more discussion of this ?

The is called the Knowledge Argument; see 
http://www.u.arizona.edu/~chalmers/online1.html#knowledge
for a large number of on-line papers on the subject.

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<J Q B>