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Deference and Self-Knowledge
Henry Jackman
Southwest Philosophy Review, V.16, n. 1, Jan 2000.
Area 1 Philosophy of Language
Area 2 Philosophy of Mind
Keywords Davidson Interpretation Externalism Deference
http://www.yorku.ca/hjackman/papers/def-and-sk.pdf
It has become increasingly popular to suggest that non-individualistic theories of content undermine our purported a priori knowledge of such contents because they entail that we lack the ability to distinguish our thoughts from alternative thoughts with different contents. However, problems relating to such knowledge of 'comparative' content tell just as much against individualism as non-individualism. Indeed, the problems presented by individualistic theories of content for self-knowledge are at least, if not more, serious than those presented by non-individualistic theories. Consequently, considerations of self-knowledge give one no reason to embrace individualism. If anything, they give one reason to reject it.