The Unknowable Knower

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Wane Olson proposes that the human intellect is such that it does not have “priveleged access” to its own processes. Specifically, Wayne is proposing that the human mind is incapable of reliably reporting the process of forming beliefs. He plans to support this thesis with insights from current cognitive science and psychology. This sounds familiar: It is a fundamental tenet of human interface engineering that users should not be trusted to report reliably on their own actions and processes.

The paradox, it seems to me, is this: If I do not have priveleged access to the process within my own mind of forming beliefs, it is impossible for any external observer to have that access. External agents can only make inferences about the mental processes of other agents. Thus, judgments by external agents only probable and susceptible to degrees of error. It becomes impossible, then, to know how we form beliefs, and therefore, impossible to know how we know anything. Therefore, arguing that the human mind is incapable of accurately reporting on its own belief-forming process renders the field of epistemology irrelevant — little more than the fantasies of people who do not understand human nature.

This, in turn, makes it impossible to claim knowledge in the first place. At least, it’s impossible with the old foundationalism.

I am very interested in Wayne’s project. He has already made it clear that he is neither a fideist nor a foundationalist. He has not mentioned Reformed epistemology, and I cannot tell if he is familiar with Alvin Plantinga. (Bluntly, I’m not sure he will be able to construct a credible account of warrant if he follows his current line of thought.) Additionally, he is pointing to W. V. O. Quine as significant in the field, without pointing to responses to Quine that have come more recently, like Plantinga’s.

But then, he’s only published a proposal for a paper, not the paper itself.

It will be interesting to see if Wayne will be able to posit a “fourth way” for epistemology. He clearly does not believe that his work will mean the end of epistemology. I’m not quite so confident.

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