BROWN ON SELF-KNOWLEDGE AND DISCRIMINABILITY1

Abstract:  In her recent book Anti-Individualism and Knowledge , Jessica Brown has presented a novel answer to the self-knowledge 'achievement problem' facing the proponent of anti-individualism. She argues that her answer is to be preferred to the traditional answer (based on Burge, 1988a). Here I present three objections to the claim that her proposed answer is to be preferred. The significance of these objections lies in what they tell us about the nature of the sort of knowledge that is in dispute. Perhaps the most important lesson I draw from this discussion is that, given the nature of knowledge of one's own thoughts, discriminability (from relevant alternatives) is not a condition on knowledge as such.     

PERSONALITY AND SITUATIONAL INFLUENCES UPON VERBAL SLIPS: A LABORATORY TEST OF FREUDIAN AND PREARTICULATORY EDITING HYPOTHESES

Earlier studies of laboratory-induced verbal slips have demonstrated the existence of a “prearticulatory editing” phase of speech/language production, the supposed function of which is to evaluate the linguistic integrity of phoneme sequences destined for articulation, allowing articulation of linguistically legitimate sequences, and preventing articulation of linguistically anomalous sequences. Freud's view of verbal slips as a manifestation of speakers' private internal states, these internal states resulting from interactions of personality and situational influences, may be viewed as a prediction that prearticulatory editing involves personality/situation-based semantic criteria. The prediction was tested and supported. Implications are discussed.