Mary’s room (thought experiment)

Mary’s room is a thought experiment about consciousness and knowledge. Imagine Mary is a scientist who knows everything about the science of color from a black-and-white room—how eyes detect it, how it works in the brain—but has never seen color herself. When she finally leaves and sees red for the first time, the question is: does she learn something new? This thought experiment explores whether all scientific knowledge can explain subjective experience—our personal, inner sensation—suggesting that some aspects of consciousness may be beyond purely physical explanation.