The opacity of mind : an integrative theory of self-knowledge / Peter Carruthers.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Carruthers, Peter, 1952-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Self-knowledge, Theory of.

Physical Description:

xvi, 437 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2011.

Summary:

It is widely believed that people have privileged and authoritative access to their own thoughts, and many theories have been proposed to explain this supposed fact. The Opacity of Mind challenges the consensus view and subjects the theories in question to critical scrutiny, while showing that they are not protected against the findings of cognitive science by belonging to a separate 'explanatory space'. The book argues that our access to our own thoughts is almost always interpretive, grounded in perceptual awareness of our own circumstances and behavior, together with our own sensory imagery (including inner speech). In fact our access to our own thoughts is no different in principle from our access to the thoughts of other people, utilizing the conceptual and inferential resources of the same 'mindreading' faculty, and relying on many of the same sources of evidence. Peter Carruthers proposes and defends the Interpretive Sensory-Access (ISA] theory of self-knowledge. This is supported through comprehensive examination of many different types of evidence from across cognitive science, integrating a diverse set of findings into a single well-articulated theory. One outcome is that there are hardly any kinds of conscious thought. Another is that there is no such thing as conscious agency. Book jacket.

Contents:

1 Introduction 1

1 The Interpretive Sensory-Access (ISA) Theory 1

2 Predictions of the ISA Theory 3

3 Transparent-Access Accounts 7

4 A Guide Through the Volume 8

2 The Mental Transparency Assumption 11

1 Prospect 11

2 Transparency Assumptions in Philosophy 17

3 Are Transparency Assumptions a Human Universal? 25

4 Explaining our Intuitions of Transparency 32

5 Leveling the Playing Field 39

6 Conclusion 45

3 The ISA Theory: Foundations and Elaborations 47

1 A Global Broadcast Architecture 47

2 Working Memory 56

3 The Social Intelligence Hypothesis 64

4 The ISA Model Revisited 68

5 Sensory Self-Knowledge 72

6 Conclusion 78

4 Transparent Sensory Access to Attitudes? 79

1 Self-Knowledge by Looking Outward 79

2 Self-Knowledge by Expression 84

3 Constitutive Authority and Dual Systems 96

4 Revisionary Attitudes 108

5 Conclusion 118

5 Transparent Sensory Access to Affect 119

1 Desire and Emotion 119

2 Awareness of Affect 126

3 Awareness of Affective Attitude Strength? 135

4 Awareness of Affective Attitude Content? 147

5 Conclusion 154

6 Intermediate-Strength Transparent-Access Theories 156

1 The Tagging Hypothesis 156

2 Attitudinal Working Memory 166

3 Awareness of Action 178

4 The Active Mind 187

5 Conclusion 190

7 Inner Sense Theories 192

1 Inner Sense and Mindreading: Three Theories 192

2 Developmental Evidence 203

3 Emotional Mirroring 209

4 Unsymbolized Thinking 214

5 Conclusion 222

8 Mindreading in Mind 223

1 The Theoretical Options 223

2 Why Mindreading Matters 230

3 Evidence of Early Mindreading 240

4 Explaining the Gap 248

5 Mindreading in Animals 254

6 Conclusion 259

9 Metacognition and Control 261

1 Inner Sense versus ISA 261

2 Human Metacognition 263

3 Human Meta-Reasoning 272

4 Animal Metacognition 278

5 Epistemic Emotions in Humans and Animals 288

6 Conclusion 292

10 Dissociation Data 293

1 Schizophrenia 293

2 Autism 301

3 Alexithymia 309

4 Images of the Brain 311

5 Conclusion 324

11 Self-Interpretation and Confabulation 325

1 The Limits of Introspection 326

2 When Will the Two Methods Operate? 333

3 Confabulated Decisions, Intentions, and Judgments 339

4 Self-Perception Data 345

5 Dissonance Data 356

6 Concluding Comments 365

12 Conclusion and Implications 368

1 Summary: The Case Against Transparent Access to Attitudes 368

2 Eliminating Most Kinds of Conscious Attitude 373

3 Eliminating Conscious Agency 379

4 Rethinking Responsibility 381

5 Conclusion 383.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780199596195

0199596190

OCLC:

709682924