Frank Cameron Jackson (born 31 August 1943) is an

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Au ...

analytic philosopher Analytic philosophy is a branch and tradition of philosophy using analysis, popular in the Western world and particularly the Anglosphere, which began around the turn of the 20th century in the contemporary era in the United Kingdom, United Sta ...

and

Emeritus Professor ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

in the School of Philosophy (Research School of Social Sciences) at

Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public research university located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton encompasses seven teaching and research colleges, in addition to several national academies an ...

(ANU) where he had spent most of the latter part of his career. His primary research interests include

epistemology Epistemology (; ), or the theory of knowledge, is the branch of philosophy concerned with knowledge. Epistemology is considered a major subfield of philosophy, along with other major subfields such as ethics, logic, and metaphysics. Episte ...

metaphysics Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that studies the fundamental nature of reality, the first principles of being, identity and change, space and time, causality, necessity, and possibility. It includes questions about the nature of consci ...

meta-ethics In metaphilosophy and ethics, meta-ethics is the study of the nature, scope, and meaning of moral judgment. It is one of the three branches of ethics generally studied by philosophers, the others being normative ethics (questions of how one o ...

and the

philosophy of mind Philosophy of mind is a branch of philosophy that studies the ontology and nature of the mind and its relationship with the body. The mind–body problem is a paradigmatic issue in philosophy of mind, although a number of other issues are addr ...

. In the latter field he is best known for the "Mary's room"

knowledge argument The knowledge argument (also known as Mary's room or Mary the super-scientist) is a philosophical thought experiment proposed by Frank Jackson in his article "Epiphenomenal Qualia" (1982) and extended in "What Mary Didn't Know" (1986). The experim ...

, a

thought experiment A thought experiment is a hypothetical situation in which a hypothesis, theory, or principle is laid out for the purpose of thinking through its consequences. History The ancient Greek ''deiknymi'' (), or thought experiment, "was the most an ...

that is one of the most discussed challenges to

physicalism In philosophy, physicalism is the metaphysical thesis that "everything is physical", that there is "nothing over and above" the physical, or that everything supervenes on the physical. Physicalism is a form of ontological monism—a "one substan ...

Biography

Frank Cameron Jackson was born on 31 August 1943 in Melbourne, Australia. His parents were both philosophers. His mother Ann E. Jackson, who rose to the rank of senior tutor, taught philosophy at the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb no ...

from 1961 to 1984. His atheistic father Allan Cameron Jackson (1911–1990) had been a student of

Ludwig Wittgenstein Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein ( ; ; 26 April 1889 – 29 April 1951) was an Austrian- British philosopher who worked primarily in logic, the philosophy of mathematics, the philosophy of mind, and the philosophy of language. He is con ...

(having gone to

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge beca ...

in 1946 for

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

studies). F. C. Jackson, in interview with

Graham Oppy Graham Robert Oppy (born 1960) is an Australian philosopher whose main area of research is the philosophy of religion. He currently holds the posts of Professor of Philosophy and Associate Dean of Research at Monash University and serves as C ...

, reports of his parents that; they were both "philosophers in the Old School, by which I mean the Wittgensteinian School. Philosophy was part of your life." Despite his self-reported enjoyment of the philosophical conversation of his household it was with view to becoming a mathematician that Jackson went to the

to study maths and science. And it was only in his final year of those studies that he chose to also take some philosophy which he found he better enjoyed and proved significantly more able. He passed his

B.Sc. A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

but went on to achieve Honours in a B.A whose main subject was philosophy. During his time at Melbourne he was a resident at Trinity College, a Clarke Scholar, and a member of the 2nd XVIII football team. Upon graduation from his second degree, Jackson taught at the

University of Adelaide The University of Adelaide (informally Adelaide University) is a public research university located in Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 1874, it is the third-oldest university in Australia. The university's main campus is located on N ...

for a year in 1967 and then went to

La Trobe University La Trobe University is a public university, public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. Its main campus is located in the suburb of Bundoora, Victoria, Bundoora. The university was established in 196 ...

for a lectureship appointment. Whilst there, Jackson published his first book (which was also his doctoral thesis) "Perception: A Representative Theory" (1977). The following year he succeeded his father to the chair of Philosophy at

Monash University Monash University () is a public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Named for prominent World War I general Sir John Monash, it was founded in 1958 and is the second oldest university in the state. The university has a ...

. In 1986, he joined

ANU , image=Detail, upper part, Kudurru of Ritti-Marduk, from Sippar, Iraq, 1125-1104 BCE. British Museum.jpg , caption=Symbols of various deities, including Anu (bottom right corner) on a kudurru of Ritti-Marduk, from Sippar, Iraq, 1125–1104 BCE , ...

as Professor of Philosophy and Head of the Philosophy Program, within the Research School of Social Sciences. At ANU, he served as Director of the Institute of Advanced Studies (1998–2001), Deputy Vice-Chancellor – Research (2001), and Director of the Research School of Social Sciences (2004–7). Jackson was appointed as Distinguished Professor at ANU in 2003; he became an Emeritus Professor upon his retirement in 2014. Latterly (2007–14) he had also been a regular visiting professor of philosophy at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...

. Jackson was awarded the

Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian ...

in 2006 for service to philosophy and

social sciences Social science is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of societies and the relationships among individuals within those societies. The term was formerly used to refer to the field of sociology, the original "science of soci ...

as an

academic An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, ...

, administrator, and

researcher Research is " creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge". It involves the collection, organization and analysis of evidence to increase understanding of a topic, characterized by a particular attentiveness ...

. Jackson delivered the

John Locke Lectures The John Locke Lectures are a series of annual lectures in philosophy given at the University of Oxford. Named for British philosopher John Locke, the Locke Lectures are the world's most prestigious lectures in philosophy, and are among the world' ...

at the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

in 1995. Notably, his father had also delivered the 1957–8 lectures, making them the first father–son pair to have done so.

Philosophical work

Jackson's philosophical research is broad, but focuses primarily on the areas of

, and

. In philosophy of mind, Jackson is known especially for the ''knowledge argument'' against

—the view that the universe is entirely physical (i.e., the kinds of entities postulated in physics). Jackson motivates the knowledge argument by a famous

known as Mary's room. in a much cited passage he phrases the thought experiment as follows:Jackson's thought experiment features in the 1996

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service i ...

documentary "Brainspotting" and David Lodge's novel ''Thinks...'' (2001''). Jackson used the knowledge argument, as well as other arguments, to establish a sort of dualism, according to which certain

mental states A mental state, or a mental property, is a state of mind of a person. Mental states comprise a diverse class, including perception, pain experience, belief, desire, intention, emotion, and memory. There is controversy concerning the exact definitio ...

, especially qualitative ones, are non-physical. The view that Jackson urged was a modest version of

epiphenomenalism Epiphenomenalism is a position on the mind–body problem which holds that physical and biochemical events within the human body ( sense organs, neural impulses, and muscle contractions, for example) are the sole cause of mental events (thought, c ...

—the view that certain mental states are non-physical and, although caused to come into existence by physical events, do not then cause any changes in the physical world. However, Jackson later rejected the knowledge argument, as well as other arguments against

: Jackson argues that the intuition-driven arguments against physicalism (such as the knowledge argument and the zombie argument) are ultimately misleading. Jackson is also known for his defence of the centrality of conceptual analysis to philosophy; his approach, set out in his Locke Lectures and published as his 1998 book, is often referred to as the Canberra Plan.

Honours

Jackson was elected Fellow of the

Australian Academy of the Humanities The Australian Academy of the Humanities was established by Royal Charter in 1969 to advance scholarship and public interest in the humanities in Australia. It operates as an independent not-for-profit organisation partly funded by the Australia ...

(FAHA) in 1981 and of the

Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia The Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia (ASSA) is an independent, non-governmental organisation devoted to the advancement of knowledge and research in the social sciences. It has its origins in the Social Science Research Council of Austr ...

(FASSA) in 1998. He was awarded the

Centenary Medal The Centenary Medal is an award which was created by the Australian Government in 2001. It was established to commemorate the centenary of the Federation of Australia and to recognise "people who made a contribution to Australian society or gov ...

in 2001 and appointed an Officer of the

(AO) in 2006. In 2003 he was appointed as Distinguished Professor at the Australian National University and Emeritus Professor in 2014. In November 2018 Jackson received the Peter Baume Award, which recognises substantial and significant achievement and merit.

Publications

Books

* ''Perception: A Representative Theory'' (1977,

CUP A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay, w ...

) * ''

Conditionals Conditional (if then) may refer to: *Causal conditional, if X then Y, where X is a cause of Y *Conditional probability, the probability of an event A given that another event B has occurred *Conditional proof, in logic: a proof that asserts a co ...

'' (1987,

Basil Blackwell Sir Basil Henry Blackwell (29 May 18899 April 1984) was born in Oxford, England. He was the son of Benjamin Henry Blackwell (18491924), founder of Blackwell's bookshop in Oxford, which went on to become the Blackwell family's publishing and book ...

) * (with David Braddon-Mitchell) ''Philosophy of Mind and Cognition: An Introduction'' (1996, Basil Blackwell) * '' From Metaphysics to Ethics: A Defence of Conceptual Analysis'' (1998,

OUP Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...

) * ''Mind, Method and Conditionals: Selected Essays'' (1998,

Routledge Routledge () is a British multinational publisher. It was founded in 1836 by George Routledge, and specialises in providing academic books, journals and online resources in the fields of the humanities, behavioural science, education, law, ...

) * (with

Philip Pettit Philip Noel Pettit (born 1945) is an Irish philosopher and political theorist. He is the Laurance S. Rockefeller University Professor of Politics and Human Values at Princeton University and also Distinguished University Professor of Philo ...

& Michael Smith) ''Mind, Morality, and Explanations: Selected Collaborations'' (2004, OUP) * (with David Braddon-Mitchell) ''Philosophy of Mind and Cognition: An Introduction'' (2nd edition) (2007, Basil Blackwell) * '' Language, Names and Information'' (2010,

Wiley-Blackwell Wiley-Blackwell is an international scientific, technical, medical, and scholarly publishing business of John Wiley & Sons. It was formed by the merger of John Wiley & Sons Global Scientific, Technical, and Medical business with Blackwell Publis ...

)

Edited books

* ''Conditionals'' (1991, OUP) * (with Michael Smith) '' The Oxford Handbook of Contemporary Philosophy'' (2005, OUP)

Selected articles

* (1975)
Grue
''Journal of Philosophy'', vol. 72, no. 5, pp. 113–131. * (1979)
On Assertion and Indicative Conditionals
''The Philosophical Review'', vol. 88, no. 4, pp. 565–589. * (1980)
Ontological Commitment and Paraphrase
''Philosophy'', vol. 55, no. 213, pp. 303–315. * (1981)
Conditionals and Possibilia
''Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society'', vol. 81, pp. 125–137. * (1982)
Epiphenomenal Qualia
''The Philosophical Quarterly'', vol. 32, no. 27, pp. 127–136. * (1982)
Functionalism and Type-Type Identity Theories
''Philosophical Studies'', vol. 42, no. 2, pp. 209–225. (with Robert Pargetter & Elizabeth W. Prior) * (1984)
Weakness of Will
''Mind'', vol. 93, no. 369, pp. 1–18. * (1984) 'Petitio and the Purpose of Arguing' ''Pacific Philosophical Quarterly'', vol. 65, no. 1, pp. 26–36. * (1985)
On the Semantics and Logic of Obligation
''Mind'', vol. 94, no. 374, pp. 177–196. * (1986)
Oughts, Options, and Actualism
''The Philosophical Review'', vol. 95, no. 2, 233–255. (with Robert Pargetter) * (1986)
What Mary Didn't Know
''The Journal of Philosophy'', vol. 83, no. 5, pp. 291–295. * (1988)
Functionalism and Broad Content
''Mind'', vol. 97, no. 387, pp. 381–400. (with

) * (1990)
Classifying Conditionals
''Analysis'', vol. 50, no. 2, pp. 134–147. * (1990)
In Defence of Folk Psychology
''Philosophical Studies'', vol. 59, no. 1, pp. 31–54. (with Philip Pettit) * (1991)
Decision-Theoretic Consequentialism and the Nearest and Dearest Objection
''Ethics'', vol. 101, no. 3, pp. 461–482. * (1994)
Minimalism and Truth Aptness
''Mind'', vol. 103, no. 411, pp. 287–302. (with

& Michael Smith) * (1996)
The Primary Quality View of Color
''Philosophical Perspectives'', vol. 10, pp. 199–219. * (1996)
Mental Causation
''Mind'', vol. 105, no. 419, pp. 377–413. * (1998)
A Problem for Expressivism
''Analysis'', vol. 58, no. 4, pp. 239–251. (with Philip Pettit) * (1999)
The Divide and Conquer Path to Analytical Functionalism
''Philosophical Topics'', vol. 26, no. 1/2, pp. 71–88. (with David Braddon-Mitchell) * (2001) ' Conceptual Analysis and Reductive Explanation' ''The Philosophical Review'', vol. 110, no. 3, pp. 315–360. (with David J. Chalmers) * (2002)
Response-Dependence without Tears
''Philosophical Issues'', vol. 12, pp. 97–117. (with Philip Pettit) * (2003a)
Cognitivism, A Priori Deduction, and Moore
''Ethics'', vol. 113, no. 3, pp. 557–575. * (2003b) ' Mind and Illusion' in ''Minds and Persons'', ed. Anthony O'Hear, Cambridge University Press, pp. 251–272. * (2005)
What Are Cognitivists Doing When They Do Normative Ethics?
''Philosophical Issues'', vol. 15, pp. 94–106. * (2006)
Absolutist Moral Theories and Uncertainty
''The Journal of Philosophy'', vol. 103, no. 6, pp. 267–283. (with Michael Smith) * (2007)
Freedom from Fear
''Philosophy & Public Affairs'', vol. 35, no. 3, pp. 249–265. (with Robert E. Goodin) * (2010)
The Autonomy of Mind
''Philosophical Issues'', vol. 20, pp. 170–184. * (2012)
Leibniz's Law and the Philosophy of Mind
''Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society'', vol. 112, pp. 269–283.

References

General references and further reading

* Franklin, J. 2003. ''Corrupting the Youth: A History of Philosophy in Australia'', Macleay Press, Ch. 9.
Chapter
as shared by author) * Ludlow, P., Y. Nagasawa, and D. Stoljar (eds.). 2004. ''There's Something About Mary'', MIT Press.
Introduction
as shared by publisher and archived by

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])

External links

Frank Jackson
– homepage at ANU's Research School of Social Sciences
Professor Frank Jackson – Researchers – ANUV

"MARY'S ROOM AND STUFF"
Frank Jackson interviewed by Richard Marshall.
"Frank Jackson, Latter Day Physicalist"
2011 interview with James Garvey (philosopher), James Garvey for '' The Philosophers' Magazine.'' (Archived by

.) * O'Dea, Joh
"Jackson, Frank Cameron"
In:
A Companion to Philosophy in Australia and New Zealand
' (eds.) Oppy, Graham et al (2010, 2nd ed. 2014) ---- {{DEFAULTSORT:Jackson, Frank Cameron 1943 births 20th-century Australian male writers 20th-century Australian philosophers 20th-century essayists 21st-century Australian male writers 21st-century Australian philosophers 21st-century essayists Action theorists Analytic philosophers Australian essayists Australian ethicists Australian logicians Australian male non-fiction writers Australian National University faculty Epistemologists Fellows of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia Fellows of the Australian Academy of the Humanities Historians of philosophy Living people Meta-ethics Metaphilosophers Metaphysicians Metaphysics writers Monash University faculty Moral philosophers Officers of the Order of Australia People educated at Trinity College (University of Melbourne) Philosophers of education Philosophers of ethics and morality Philosophers of language Philosophers of logic Philosophers of mind Philosophers of psychology Philosophers of social science Philosophy academics Philosophy teachers Philosophy writers Princeton University faculty Recipients of the Centenary Medal Writers about religion and science