Knowing Beliefs, Seeking Causes

Knowing what one believes sometimes takes effort: it sometimes involves seeking to know one’s beliefs as causes. And when one gains self-knowledge of one’s belief this way—that is, through causal self-interpretation—one engages in a characteristically human kind of psychological liberation. By investigating the nature of causal self-interpretation, the author discovers some surprising features of this liberty. In doing so, she counters a trend in recent philosophical theories: that of discounting the value of self-knowledge in projects of human liberation.