Abstract

John Perry’s Knowledge, Possibility, and Consciousness is based on the Jean Nicod Lectures, which he gave in Paris in 1999. The main goal of this book is to defend what he calls ‘antecedent physicalism’ from various common objections to physicalism. I do not agree with Perry’s approach to the problem of phenomenal consciousness; in particular, I disagree with his approach to the knowledge argument. Nevertheless, I found his book extremely helpful in understanding complex issues in the recent debate on the topic. Dualism had been regarded as a dead philosophical doctrine for a long time, but has regained a number of supporters in the last couple of years. Perry’s book provides one of the clearest and most systematic defences of physicalism against this neo-dualist force.