Cartesian Epistemology: Is the theory of the self-transparent mind innate?

Author: Carrruthers, Peter¹

Source: Journal of Consciousness Studies, Volume 15, Number 4, 2008 , pp. 28-53(26)

Publisher: Imprint Academic

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Abstract:

This paper argues that a Cartesian belief in the self-transparency of minds might actually be an innate aspect of our mind-reading faculty. But it acknowledges that some crucial evidence needed to establish this claim hasn't been looked for or collected. What we require is evidence that a belief in the self-transparency of mind is universal to the human species. The paper closes with a call to anthropologists (and perhaps also developmental psychologists), who are in a position to collect such evidence, encouraging them to do so.

Document Type: Research article

Affiliations: 1: Department of Philosophy, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA., Email: pcarruth@umd.edu

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