Knowing Ones Mind

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Knowing Ones Mind

• Joe Cruz
• Williams College
• Philosophy Cognitive Science

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• Is there any knowledge in the world that is so
  certain that no reasonable man could doubt it?
• Bertrand Russell
• The Problems of Philosophy (1912)

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• The question of certainty

What is certainty?
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• The question of certainty

What is certainty? A claim is certain if it is
inconceivable for it to be false.
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• The question of certainty

What is certainty? A claim is certain if it is
inconceivable for it to be false. (This is not
the same as a claim being necessarily true.)
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• The question of certainty

Certainty is a reflective, conceptual state.
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• The question of certainty

Certainty is a reflective, conceptual state. Are
there any plausible candidates for certainty?
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• I am I exist this is certain but how often?
  As often as I think...
• René Descartes
• Meditations on First Philosophy (1614)

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• Thinking as having explicit ideas

What is thinking?
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• Thinking as having explicit ideas

what is a thinking thing? It is a thing that
doubts, understands, conceives, affirms, denies,
wills, refuses
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• Thinking as having explicit ideas

The cat is on the mat
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• Thinking as having explicit ideas

The cat is on the mat Not
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• Thinking as having explicit ideas

The cat is on the mat (As purely a thought,
or, pure intellection.)
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• Thinking as having explicit ideas

The cat is on the mat Does utilitarianism
lead to injustice? I want
chocolate The sunset is lovely
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• Thinking as having explicit ideas

I.e., having an idea the content of which is
explicit, articulate and clear in your mind.
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• Thinking as having explicit ideas

I.e., having an idea the content of which is
explicit, articulate and clear in your
mind. (Plus some reflective attitude toward that
content)
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• Thinking as having explicit ideas

Argument for Pure Intellection Vs. Chiliogon
(a thousand-sided figure)
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• Thinking as having explicit ideas

Can you be wrong about the explicit ideas you are
having?
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• Thinking as having explicit ideas

Can you be wrong about the explicit ideas you are
having? Or, could an evil genius deceive you
with respect to your explicit ideas?
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• Uncertainty about having explicit ideas

Of course, you cannot be certain that the cat is
on the mat
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• Uncertainty about having explicit ideas

How about I am certain that I am now
thinking The cat is on the mat
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• Uncertainty about having explicit ideas

But this is not true, let alone certain I am
certain that I am now thinking The cat is on
the mat Because you are actually thinking I am
now certain that I am thinking The cat is on the
mat.
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• Uncertainty about having explicit ideas

So how about I am now certain I am
thinking The cat is on the mat
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• Uncertainty about having explicit ideas

But this is not true, let alone certain I am
now certain that I am thinking The cat is on the
mat Because you are actually thinking I am now
certain that I am certain that I am thinking The
cat is on the mat.
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• Uncertainty about having explicit ideas

Certainty is elusive because pure intellection
lags one step behind its object.
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• Uncertainty about having explicit ideas

Certainty is elusive because pure intellection
lags one step behind its object. There is a gap
between two acts of thought, and in that gap lies
the possibility of error.
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• Uncertainty about having explicit ideas

What about being certain that you have thoughts
(even if you cannot be certain which thought you
are having)?
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• Uncertainty about having explicit ideas

What about being certain that you have thoughts
(even if you cannot be certain which thought you
are having)? But if you cant be certain which
thought you are having, then how can you be
certain that you having one?
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• Uncertainty about having explicit ideas

Descartes claims that he is certain that he
exists, as often as he (explicitly) thinks.
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• Uncertainty about having explicit ideas

Descartes claims that he is certain that he
exists, as often as he (explicitly) thinks. But
he cannot be certain how often that is, so he
cannot be certain that he exists.
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• Thinking as consciousness

What is consciousness?
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• Thinking as consciousness

it is certain that I seem to see light, hear a
noise, and feel heat this cannot be false, and
this is what in me is properly called perceiving,
which is nothing else than thinking.
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• Thinking as consciousness

Tasting chocolate
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• Thinking as consciousness

Tasting chocolate Seeing the color red
Feeling envy Experiencing pain
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• Thinking as consciousness

I.e., the felt experience of your present
sensations.
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• Thinking as consciousness

Can you be wrong about how your sensations feel
to you?
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• Thinking as consciousness

Can you be wrong about how your sensations feel
to you? (Not about the words you use, but about
the sensations themselves.)
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• Thinking as consciousness

Can you be wrong about how your sensations feel
to you? Or, could an evil genius deceive you
with respect to the way that your sensations feel?
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(No Transcript)
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• Uncertainty about consciousness

Being conscious is a (glorious, wondrous,
mysterious) capacity that you have.
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• Uncertainty about consciousness

Being conscious is a (glorious, wondrous,
mysterious) capacity that you have. (And it is
likely shared with many non-human animals.)
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• Uncertainty about consciousness

Reflecting on your consciousness is a different
(glorious, wondrous, mysterious) capacity that
you have.
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• Uncertainty about consciousness

Reflecting on your consciousness is a different
(glorious, wondrous, mysterious) capacity that
you have. (And it is likely not shared by many
non-human animals.)
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• Uncertainty about consciousness

But if consciousness and reflection on
consciousness are two different capacities, then
an evil genius could enter the gap to mislead
you.
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(No Transcript)
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• Uncertainty about consciousness

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• Uncertainty about consciousness

I am certain I am now seeing red
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• Uncertainty about consciousness

What about being certain that you are conscious
(even if you cant be certain what you are
conscious of)?
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• Uncertainty about consciousness

What about being certain that you are conscious
(even if you cant be certain what you are
conscious of)? But if you cant be certain what
you are conscious of, then how can you be certain
that you are conscious?
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• Uncertainty about consciousness

There is no other marker for the activity of
consciousness than consciousness of something.
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• Uncertainty about consciousness

Certainty is elusive because conceptual
reflection lags one step behind consciousness.
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• Uncertainty about consciousness

Certainty is elusive because conceptual
reflection lags one step behind
consciousness. There is a gap between an act of
thought and consciousness, and in that gap lies
the possibility of error.
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• Uncertainty about consciousness

Descartes claims that he is certain that he
exists, as often as he (consciously) thinks. But
he cannot be certain how often that is, so he
cannot be certain that he exists.
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• Uncertainty about consciousness

Descartes claims that he is certain that he
exists, as often as he (consciously) thinks. But
he cannot be certain how often that is, so he
cannot be certain that he exists.
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• Nothing is certain

You cannot be certain of your explicit thoughts
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• Nothing is certain

You cannot be certain of your explicit thoughts
You cannot be certain of your conscious states
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• Nothing is certain

So, the best candidates for certainty fail
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• Nothing is certain

So what?
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• How it is that anything so remarkable as a state
  of consciousness comes about as a result of
  irritating nervous tissue, is just as
  unaccountable as the appearance of Djin when
  Aladdin rubbed his lamp.
• T.H. Huxley
• Lessons in Elementary Psychology (1866)

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• Certainty and consciousness

The alleged hard problem of consciousness The
problem of experience, or the something-it-is-like
-to-be problem
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• Certainty and consciousness

Why is the something-it-is-like-to-be problem
hard?
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• Certainty and consciousness

Why is the something-it-is-like-to-be problem
hard? Consciousness is alleged to have
scientifically intractable properties
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• Certainty and consciousness

Epistemically unique (Descartes, sixth
meditation)
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• Certainty and consciousness

Epistemically unique Private
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• Certainty and consciousness

Epistemically unique Private But there is a
gap between your reflection and the object, just
as there is a gap between someone else and the
object.
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• Certainty and consciousness

Epistemically unique Private Perspectival
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• Certainty and consciousness

Epistemically unique Private
Perspectival But understanding is conceptual and
reflective, and that is not perspectival (in this
sense)
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• Certainty and consciousness

Epistemically unique Private Perspectival
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• Certainty and consciousness

The properties allegedly had by consciousness are
the result of a fallible inference based on
particular evidence
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• Nothing is certain

Philosophy as continuous with science
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• Nothing is certain

Philosophy as continuous with science (I.e., as
preparation for empirical inquiry.)
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• Epistemology, or something like it, simply falls
  into place as a chapter of psychology and hence
  of natural science. It studies a natural
  phenomenon, viz., a physical human subject.
• W.V.O Quine
• Epistemology Naturalized (1969)

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Knowing Ones Mind

• Special thanks to
• Melissa Barry, Michelle Donnelly 08, Will Dudley
  89, Young Hahn 07, Kris Kirby, Adriann
  Mintzmyer 09, Kathleen Monahan, Craig Robertson,
  and Julianne Shelby 06.