Table Of ContentSpeaking My Mind
Speaking My Mind
Expression and Self-Knowledge
DORIT BAR-ON
CLARENDON PRESS OXFORD
•
2004
3
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To my father,Elimelech Bar-On,to Manya,
and
To the memory of my mother Margalit,my aunt Malka,
my brother Palti,
and my friends Yael Barash and Ezra Moria
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Acknowledgments
I was led to the ideas developed in this work by seeking a systematic
motivation and defense of the account of avowals presented in Bar-On
and Long ().I am greatly indebted to Doug Long for numerous
stimulating discussions on the status of avowals and self-knowledge,
and for several years of philosophical conversation and collaboration.
The roots of the ideas go back further,to my time as a graduate
student at UCLA,where I was fortunate to study closely with Tyler
Burge (my dissertation advisor), Philippa Foot, Tony Martin, and
David Pears. I owe them and my other teachers at UCLA a great
intellectual debt.The particular combination of philosophical inter-
ests in language,mind,and knowledge that has led me to the present
work goes back even further,to my undergraduate years in Tel Aviv,
where I was turned on to analytic philosophy by Asa Kasher.
Of all my teachers,the one who has most influenced my thinking
about the issues that occupy me in this work is Rogers Albritton.
Seminars I took from Albritton while at UCLA and several marathon
conversations with him have set me on a philosophical path to which
I shall always find myself returning.I deeply regret not having been
able to present this work to him before he died,especially given his
generous encouragement at a crucial stage of its inception.But I find
some comfort in the thought that he,of all people,would not have
urged me to let go of it any earlier.
Three people provided close readings of the manuscript,intellec-
tual support,and editorial help at various stages of this work.Bijan
Parsia was my research assistant during the earlier stages of my work
on the manuscript;I am grateful to him for his philosophical and edi-
torial suggestions.Dylan Sabo has been my research assistant for the
last two years.His help in preparing the manuscript for publication
has been invaluable.Ram Neta,now my colleague provided extensive
comments on a complete earlier draft of the manuscript, and later
continued to read draft after draft of various chapters,never failing to
offer insightful and challenging comments and constructive suggestions.
Ithank him for pushing me to go deeper and make myself clearer.
vii
I also wish to thank colleagues and graduate students at UNC-
Chapel Hill for intellectual stimulation and support,both direct and
indirect, during the writing of this book. Several people have read
earlier drafts of chapters and have given me feedback and helpful
comments: Peter Alward, Simon Blackburn,Tony Brueckner,Tyler
Burge,Brad Cohen,Nancy Daukas,Fred Dretske,Don Garrett,Brie
Gertler,Bill Lycan,David Reeve,Keith Simmons,and Carol Voeller.
My thanks to the participants in seminars on self-knowledge taught
at UNC-Chapel Hill in and , to Rogers Albritton and
Richard Moran who commented on the paper presented by Doug
Long and myself at the Pacific APA symposium on self-knowledge in
March ,to the participants in a workshop on self-knowledge at
UCLA in May ,especially David Kaplan,and to audiences at the
University of South Carolina, the meetings of the North Carolina
Philosophical Society, the College of William and Mary,Virginia
Commonwealth, the meetings of the Canadian Philosophical
Association, a conference on Language, Mind, and the World in
Tlaxcala, Mexico, the University of Maryland, Davidson College
(especially David Robb), UC Santa Cruz (especially Julia
Tannenbaum),UC Santa Barbara (especially Tony Brueckner,Kevin
Falvey,and Aaron Zimmermann),and to participants in a recent sem-
inar at Duke University led by Fred Dretske and Guven Guzeldere.
Special thanks to Mitch Green for many conversations, as well as
comments he provided on some of the chapters,which have greatly
helped shape my view on expression.Finally thanks to the editors at
OUP,and especially to Peter Momtchiloff.
My work on this manuscript was supported by a semester’s fellow-
ship from the Institute for the Arts and Humanities at UNC-Chapel
Hill and a semester’s University Research and Study Leave.A small
Research Grant from the UNC University Research Council helped
support the preparation of the index.The publishers of the following
journals have kindly given me permission to use materials from pub-
lished papers: Philsophical Topics (“Speaking My Mind”), Philosophy
and Phenomenological Research (“Avowals and First-Person Privilege”,
co-authored with Douglas Long).Ashgate Publishing Limitedhas given
permission to use materials from “Knowing Selves:Expression,Truth,
and Knowledge”(also co-authored with Douglas Long).My chairman,
Geoff Sayre-McCord, stepped in at various crucial stages with
ix
much-appreciated support for research and editorial assistance. Ben
Theis helped with last minute work on the footnotes and the bibliog-
raphy and Ted Parent helped prepare the Index. My friend Michal
Goldman has graciously allowed me to use one of her beautiful works
of art for the book cover.
I would have found it impossible to engage in a project of this
length without the love and support of those closest to me.I am ever
so grateful to my friends,both in the profession and outside it,and to
my family:my father Elimelech and his wife Manya,my sisters Sigi,
Ranit,and Noa,and most of all,to my husband (and colleague) Keith
Simmons,always a source of philosophical insight and sound advice,
and to Leah,my bright and shining light.
Chapel Hill,North Carolina
Spring
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Description:We are all very good at telling what states of mind we are in at a given moment. When it comes to our own present states of mind, what we say goes; an avowal such as "I'm feeling so anxious" or "I'm thinking about my next trip to Paris," it is typically supposed, tells it like it is. But why is that
