Abstract

This paper introduces a mindreading skill I call other-directed mental time travel (ODMTT). ODMTT supports a narrow link between mental time travel and mindreading. In brief, it specifies our ability to represent another person’s past- and future-directed representations, which in turn allow us to predict and explain their mental states and behaviour. I argue that this is a skill that could be particularly valuable in complex social contexts, such as therapeutic settings, where the stakes in predicting other people’s mental states precisely and accurately are high, and where precision and accuracy depend on understanding how the target person’s past- or future-directed thoughts shape their present-directed thoughts and behaviour. I support ODMTT by defending two empirically well-supported claims. First, that our mental time travel representations profoundly shape our mental states and so tracking these would be useful when mindreading. Second, that mental time travel relies heavily on constructive memory capacities, and so we can use these capacities to construct representations of other people’s mental time travel representations. From these two claims, I argue that we can and do engage in ODMTT. I then specify details about the specific aspects of our past- and future-directed thoughts that ODMTT allows us to track.