Transparent Minds：A Study of Self-Knowledge

Weallseemtobecapableoftellingwhatourcurrentstatesofmindare.Atanygivenmoment,weknow,forexample,whatwebelieve,andwhatwewant.Buthowdoweknowthat?InTransparentMinds,JordiFernandezexplainsourknowledgeofourownpropositionalattitudes.Drawingontheso-called'transparency'ofbelief,heproposesthatweattributebeliefsanddesirestoourselvesbasedonourgroundsforthosebeliefsanddesires.Thebookarguesthatthisviewexplainsourprivilegedaccesstothosepropositionalattitudes.Threeapplicationsaredrawnfromthemodelofself-knowledgethatemerges:asolutiontoMoore'sparadox,anaccountofthethought-insertiondelusion,andanexplanationofself-deception.Thepuzzlesraisedbyallthreephenomenacanberesolved,Fernandezargues,ifweconstruethemasfailuresofself-knowledge.Theresultingpictureofself-knowledgechallengesthetraditionalnotionthatitisamatterofintrospection.ForthemaintenetofTransparentMindsisthatwecometoknowwhatwebelieveanddesireby'lookingoutward,'andattendingtothestatesofaffairswhichthosebeliefsanddesiresareabout.