Extended mentality and ascriptive authority

Synthese 204 (1) (2024)
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Abstract

Self-ascriptions of one’s current mental states often enjoy a distinctively strong presumption of truth. Some philosophers claim that this ascriptive authority is _non-transferable_ in the sense that it cannot be matched or surpassed by anyone else. In this paper I examine this non-transferability claim in the light of potential extended mentality cases. These cases threaten to show that popular accounts of ascriptive authority do not vindicate its alleged non-transferability. However, I also argue that a less popular account of ascriptive authority can do so.

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Benjamin Winokur
University of Macau

References found in this work

Consciousness and Experience.William G. Lycan - 1996 - Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.
Transparency and Self-Knowledge.Alex Byrne - 2018 - New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

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