Self Knowledge

What is the Acquaintance Model of self-knowledge?

The idea that we know our own mental states directly and with certainty simply by being acquainted with them—by having the experience or thought itself.

What are two key claims Descartes makes about self-knowledge?

1. We can be certain that we are thinking when we think.

2. We can be certain about what we are thinking when we think it.

What is meant by 'infallibility' in self-knowledge?

The belief that we cannot be mistaken about our own current mental states.

What is 'privileged access'?

The idea that individuals have a unique, first-person access to their own mental states that others do not have.

How does the Acquaintance Model explain self-knowledge?

It claims that having a thought or experience is itself a form of knowing it, because such states are intrinsically conscious.

What are some objections to the Acquaintance Model?

1. False consciousness: We can be mistaken about the causes or targets of our feelings.

2. Unconscious mental states: Freud and others argue that we can be unaware of parts of our own minds.

What is David Armstrong’s Inner Sense Model?

The view that we know our mental states via introspection—an internal perception of our own mind's activity.

What challenge does Armstrong’s model face (the regress problem)?

If introspection is a kind of inner perception, then to know that we are introspecting would require another act of introspection (third-order), leading to an infinite regress.

Alternatively, asserting that second-order experiences are inherently conscious seems ad hoc.

What’s a broader philosophical issue raised by inner sense and acquaintance views?

They can lead to skepticism about other minds, since they imply we have a special access to our own mind that we cannot have to others'—raising the "problem of other minds."

What is Behaviourism in the context of self-knowledge?

The theory that mental states are just behavioral dispositions or patterns of overt behavior.

Example: Believing it will rain = carrying an umbrella, saying “yes” when asked.

What is Verificationism?

A sentence is meaningful only if it can be empirically verified, at least in principle. (A logical positivist idea that influences behaviourist thinking.)

How does the Behaviourist account explain self-knowledge?

We know our own mental states in the same way we know others’—by observing behavior.

What are two major objections to Behaviourism?

1. The Actor problem: Someone can behave as if they are sad without actually being sad.

2. The Super-Spartan: Someone can feel pain without showing any outward signs of it.

What is a common-sense objection to behaviourism?

We seem to know we are in pain directly—not by observing our own behavior.