Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Transparency and introspective unification

  • Published:
Synthese Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Gareth Evans has observed that one merely needs to ‘look outward’ to discover one’s own beliefs. This observation of what has become known as belief ‘transparency’ has formed a basis for a cluster of views on the nature of introspection. These views may be well suited to account for our introspective access to beliefs, but whether similar transparency-based accounts of our introspective access to mental states other than belief can be given is not obvious. The question of whether a transparency-based account can be generalized beyond beliefs is part of the larger issue whether introspection of different mental states can receive broadly the same account—whether introspection is unified. My aim is to examine one particularly thorough attempt at generalizing a transparency-based account of introspection due to Alex Byrne. I argue that the resulting view does not offer a unified account of introspection, even across a handful of mental states. In doing so, I highlight two difficulties most views on introspection that try to offer a unified account would have to face, even if they are not based in belief transparency. The subsequent move away from introspective unification has ramifications for several other philosophical debates, such as the architecture of the mind and our rationality.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. Different proposals concerning the appropriate interpretation of Evans’ observation come from Shoemaker (1988), Dretske (1994), Gallois (1996), Moran (2001), Fernandez (2013), Bar-On (2004), Byrne (2005), Boyle (2009), and Roessler (2013), to name a few.

  2. Byrne (2005, 2011a, b, c, 2012).

  3. For alternative routes to pluralism, see Nichols and Stich (2003), Prinz (2004), Goldman (2006), Zimmerman (2008), Boyle (2009), Hill (2009), and Schwitzgebel (2012).

  4. I will largely avoid this specialized terminology, familiar from Fodor (1983), in order to suppress some commitments that tend to accompany it, such as informational encapsulation and the nature of the inputs and outputs of modular systems.

  5. Some of those who focus on these capacities in the vast literature on cognitive architecture are Fodor (1983), Pylyshyn (1984), Raftapoulos (2001), Carruthers (2006), Prinz (2006), Macpherson (2012), and Siegel (2012).

  6. E.g. Shoemaker (1988), Peacocke (2008).

  7. E.g. Dretske (1994), Gallois (1996), Byrne (2005), Fernandez (2013).

  8. Thorough critique of Byrne’s core view, rather than his attempt at introspective unification, can already be found in Boyle (2011) and was foreshadowed by Bar-On (2004), much of whose critique of Evans’ view can be applied to Byrne’s (2005) view.

  9. Some other promising possibilities for unification come from considering the first-person authority of mental state self-attributions, such as those offered by expressivists (e.g. Bar-On 2004). However, such accounts are not focused on the nature of introspection, as I am, but rather on the broader range of features knowledgeable mental state self-attributions might have.

  10. Alternative interpretations of Evans’ observation of transparency are listed in footnote 1.

  11. As Byrne notes, the self-verifying nature of BEL is largely dependent on its careful formulation as instructions to oneself, rather than for any subject S.

  12. Carruthers (2011) attempts to show that Hurlburt’s method and data are consistent with self-interpretation, which is a kind of inference. However, this sort of inference is made unconsciously by a “mindreading faculty” with built-in assumptions that link behavior with mental states (p. 217)—an interpretation that does not help Byrne’s THINK rule.

  13. Boyle (2011) offers an interesting challenge Byrne’s inferential interpretation of Evans’ transparency observation and its extension to the case of intentions. However, in the interest of examining the question of introspective unification, I grant Byrne his interpretation of transparency, and focus on whether its extension to intentions is complete.

  14. E.g. Simpson et al. (1998), Linney et al. (1998), Simpson and Done (2004).

  15. Kemp et al. (1997).

  16. For an in-depth discussion of pain asymbolia, see Grahek (2007).

References

  • Anscombe, G. E. M. (1957). Intention (2nd ed.). Oxford: Basil Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Armstrong, D. (1981). The nature of mind and other essays. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bar-On, D. (2004). Speaking my mind: Expression and self-knowledge. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Bennett, J. (1981). Morality and consequences. The Tanner Lectures on Human Values, 2, 45–116.

    Google Scholar 

  • Boyle, M. (2009). Two kinds of self-knowledge. Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, 78(1), 133–164.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boyle, M. (2011). Transparent self-knowledge. Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society Supplementary Volume, 85, 223–241.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bratman, M. (1987). Intention, plans, and practical reason. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Byrne, A. (2005). Introspection. Philosophical Topics, 33, 79–103.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Byrne, A. (2011a). Knowing that I am thinking. In A. Hatzimoysis (Ed.), Self-knowledge. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Byrne, A. (2011b). Knowing what I want. In J. Liu & J. Perry (Eds.), Consciousness and the self. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Byrne, A. (2011c). Transparency, belief, intention. Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society Supplementary Volume, 85, 201–221.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Byrne, A. (2012). Knowing what I see. In D. Smithies & D. Stoljar (Eds.), Introspection and consciousness. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carruthers, P. (2006). The architecture of the mind. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Carruthers, P. (2011). The opacity of mind. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dretske, F. (1994). Introspection. Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, 94, 263–278.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Evans, G., (1982). In J. McDowell (Ed.), The varieties of reference. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

  • Fernandez, J. (2013). Transparent minds: A study of self-knowledge. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Fodor, J. (1983). The modularity of mind. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gallois, A. (1996). The mind within, the world without. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Gertler, B. (2011). Self-knowledge and the transparency of belief. In A. Hatzimoysis (Ed.), Self-knowledge. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goldman, A. (2006). Simulating minds. Oxford: Oxford.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Grahek, N. (2007). Feeling pain and being in pain. Cambridge: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Grice, H. P. (1971). Intention and uncertainty. Proceedings of the British Academy, 5, 263–279.

    Google Scholar 

  • Harman, G. (1976). Practical reasoning. In A. Mele (Ed.), The philosophy of action (pp. 149–177). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hill, C. (2009). Consciousness. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Hurlburt, R. (2009). Unsymbolized thinking, sensory awareness, and mindreading. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 32, 149–150.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hurlburt, R., & Akhter, S. (2008). Unsymbolized thinking. Consciousness and Cognition, 17, 1364–1374.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kemp, R., Chua, S., McKenna, P., & David, A. (1997). Reasoning and delusions. The British Journal of Psychiatry, 170, 398–405.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Linney, Y., Peters, E., & Ayton, P. (1998). Reasoning biases in delusion-prone individuals. British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 37(3), 295–302.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lycan, W. (1996). Consciousness and experience. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Macpherson, F. (2012). Cognitive penetration of colour experience: Rethinking the issue in light of an indirect mechanism. Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, 84(1), 24–62.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mele, A. (1992). Springs of action. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Moran, R. (2001). Authority and estrangement: An essay on self-knowledge. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nichols, S., & Stich, S. (2003). Mindreading. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Peacocke, C. (2008). Mental action and self-awareness. In L. O’Brien & M. Soteriou (Eds.), Mental action. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Prinz, J. (2004). The fractionation of introspection. Journal of Consciousness Studies, 11(7–8), 40–57.

    Google Scholar 

  • Prinz, J. (2006). Is the mind really modular? In R. Stainton (Ed.), Contemporary debates in cognitive science. Oxford: Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pylyshyn, Z. (1984). Computation and cognition. Cambridge, MA: MIT press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Roessler, J. (2013). The silence of self-knowledge. Philosophical Explorations, 16(1), 1–17.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Raftapoulos, A. (2001). Is perception informationally encapsulated? The issue of the theory-ladenness of perception. Cognitive Science, 25, 423–451.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ryle, G. (1949). The concept of mind. New York: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schwitzgebel, E. (2012). Introspection, what? In D. Smithies & D. Stoljar (Eds.), Introspection and consciousness. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shoemaker, S. (1988). On knowing one’s own mind. Philosophical Perspectives, 2, 183–209.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Siegel, S. (2012). Cognitive penetrability and perceptual justification. Noûs, 46(2), 201–222.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Simpson, J., & Done, J. (2004). Analogical reasoning in schizophrenic delusions. European Psychiatry, 19(6), 344–348.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Simpson, L., Done, J., & Vallée-Tourangeau, F. (1998). An unreasoned approach: A critique of research on reasoning and delusions. Cognitive Neuropsychiatry, 3, 1–20.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Velleman, J. D. (1989). Practical reflection. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zimmerman, A. (2008). Self-knowledge: Rationalism versus empiricism. Philosophy Compass, 3(2), 325–352.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

Many thanks to Alex Byrne, Richard Heck, Chris Hill, Gregor Hochstetter, Christoph Michel, Krisztina Orban, Ferdinand Pöhlmann, Johannes Roessler, Josh Schechter, Susanna Siegel, Mog Stapleton, Hong Yu Wong, and three anonymous referees for comments on the earlier drafts of this paper.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Philosophy of Neuroscience Group, Werner Reichardt Centre for Integrative Neuroscience, Universty of Tübingen, Otfried-Müller-Str. 25, 72076, Tübingen, Germany

    Kateryna Samoilova

Authors
  1. Kateryna Samoilova
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kateryna Samoilova.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Samoilova, K. Transparency and introspective unification. Synthese 193, 3363–3381 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11229-015-0936-5

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11229-015-0936-5

Keywords

Search

Navigation