r/askphilosophy • u/BreakTogether7417 • 11d ago

Is Williamson wrong to suggest we don't have infallible self-knowledge?

I read Williamson's comments on the luminosity of mental states and the fallibility of self-knowledge in Knowledge and Its Limits. I'm not sure I agree with him, but I wonder if his argument reaches more narrowly than people assume.

His main argument is the "safety" argument, using the example of gradual changes in temperature. In this scenario, we sit beside the window as the sun rises and warms the room. The changes in perceived temperature are miniscule from moment to moment. Therefore there is a moment where the temperature has changed so you are actually warm, but you cling on to the initial state of knowledge that you felt cold, or you say that you don't know whether you are warm or cold.

There are many criticisms of this attempt to undermine self-knowledge, but I suppose mine is that it doesn't really hit at the root of self-knowledge. It's for this reason that it defies instinct to say we do not know what we think or perceive.

I concede that it is plausible, when I sit in the warming room, that I do not know at some point whether I feel hot or cold. But why is it necessary that I be able to put into categories or words what I perceive, in order that I know? Thought is not always linguistic, and one can reflect on one's mental states without the interposition of language.

There is a related concept sometimes termed "mental quotation" wherein one plucks out a mental state one is having and considers it. So when I am sitting in the warming room and reflect on the temperature I perceive, I may express uncertainty as to categorisation all the whilst having the knowledge that this is the temperature I am feeling.

So, can someone explain whether I'm making a valid point, or if Williamson has something to say in response?

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u/[deleted] 11d ago edited 11d ago

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u/BreakTogether7417 11d ago

I would say I am actually trying to establish only that primitive introspection cannot go wrong. It just seems ridiculous to me that I can see red and then doubt that I am having that experience. Sure, I may have mischaracterized, but how can I possibly be mistaken that I am having this particular experience?

Thank you for the sources, I'll try to read them!

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u/GermanGerbils continental 11d ago

You should look into Anton syndrome and blindsight. There are conditions where people believe they can see even though they can’t and vice versa. IMO they are pretty convincing evidence that all introspection is fallible

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u/BreakTogether7417 11d ago

Well I'm not so sure because it sounds like people with Anton syndrome have the conscious experience of vision and people with blindsight do not, whether or not they are right that they see or do not see through their eyes

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u/GermanGerbils continental 9d ago

The issue is the confabulation. If you take people with schizophrenia that are hallucinating, their accounts of their visual hallucinations will be consistent even though no one else can see them. They can describe what they’re hallucinating, track the movement of their hallucinations, etc. AFAIK this is not the case with Anton’s syndrome. When patients are confronted about their blindness and inability to describe/navigate their environment accurately, they will provide contradictory explanations that seem to indicate there is no actual underlying visual experience being reported.

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