Interpretation Theory and the First Person
Oxford Scholarship Online June 22, 2017 Richard Moran
The paper argues that the 'theory-theory' view—which treats ordinary psychological terms as part of a theory for explaining others' behavior—is a poor model for understanding how we ascribe mental states. It contends that the self/other asymmetries in how we apply psychological terms in first-person versus third-person contexts actually follow naturally from the core insights of the 'rationalizing interpretation' perspective associated with Davidson and Dennett. This reconciliation shows that the apparent conflict between rationalizing interpretation and simulation theory is less significant than commonly assumed.