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EPISODE · Sep 16, 2026 · 1H 25M

The Problem of Self-Knowledge

from Philosophy Overdose · host Philosophy Overdose

A talk given by Barry Smith a few years back on the nature of self-knowledge (i.e. knowledge of one's own inner states of mind) and some of the philosophical problems that arise. He discusses some of the main metaphysical and epistemological issues, especially in relation to knowledge of other minds and other kinds of knowledge. Among other things, he touches on the symmetries vs asymmetries, the Cartesian versus behaviorist conception, and issues of authority, objectivity, and skepticism, including Davidsonian interpretation, and even a bit on Wittgenstein's famous private language argument. This talk was given at the École Normale Supérieure (ENS) in Paris back in 2005.More on self-knowledge: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/self-knowledge/00:00 Start of Talk 06:18 Asymmetries 12:10 Authority 16:29 Symmetries 19:15 The Central Problem 23:22 Cartesianism vs Behaviorism 33:45 Inner Perceptual Model 35:55 Transparency 40:21 Consciousness 45:57 Publicity & Objectivity 50:53 Knowing Others: Davidson 57:24 Objectivity vs Authority 1:00:55 Insufficient Answers to Problem #philosophy #epistemology #philosophyofmind #metaphysics #skepticism #mind Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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