Anti-functionalist arguments grounded in Mary's Room (Jackson) or the conceivability of zombies (Chalmers) target the explanatory gap directly, without dependence on relational inversion structures.

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Key Terms

Anti-functionalism(the main philosophical view being discussed): A philosophical position that rejects the idea that mental states (like thoughts and feelings) are just defined by what they do or how they relate to inputs, outputs, and other mental states—arguing instead that there's something more to the mind that can't be explained this way.
David Chalmers(as a key figure in the hard problem of consciousness): A contemporary philosopher famous for arguing that consciousness—the felt experience of things—is mysteriously hard to explain using only physical science.
Frank Jackson(referenced as the originator of an argument in philosophy of mind): A philosopher who created a famous thought experiment called the 'Knowledge Argument' to challenge the idea that the physical world is all that exists.
Mary's Room(a key anti-functionalist argument): A famous thought experiment about Mary, a scientist who knows all the physical facts about color but has lived her whole life in a black-and-white room; the question is whether she learns something new (what red actually looks like) when she finally sees red—suggesting physical facts don't explain everything.

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Relational inversion structures(a formal logical tool that the anti-functionalist arguments in question do not depend on)

A technical concept referring to ways of rearranging or inverting relationships between properties; this phrase is specialized jargon used in formal philosophy.

conceivability(Qualified as 'properly circumscribed' to distinguish it from naive or unreflective conceivability)

The ability to coherently imagine or suppose a state of affairs without contradiction

explanatory gap(Central concept in anti-physicalist arguments)

The alleged in-principle inability to intelligibly explain how consciousness arises from physical processes

functionalism(Philosophy of mind; distinguished here from representationalism)

The view that mental states are defined by the causal roles they play in a cognitive system — their actual, potential, or typical causal relationships.

zombies (philosophical)(Used as a thought experiment against physicalism about consciousness)

Beings who are physically exactly like humans but have no conscious life

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Anti-functionalist arguments grounded in Mary's Room (Jackson) or the conceivability of zombies (Chalmers) target the explanatory gap directly, without dependence on relational inversion structures.

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