What question did this study set out to answer?

The aim is to evaluate Boyle’s use of nonpositional self-awareness in his explanation of self-knowledge.

January 22, 2026

Transparency to the World, the Nature of Mind, and Self-Knowledge (Commentary on Boyle’s Transparency and Reflection: A Study of Self-Knowledge and the Nature of Mind )

Key Points

The aim is to evaluate Boyle’s use of nonpositional self-awareness in his explanation of self-knowledge.
Analysis of Boyle's arguments regarding self-knowledge and nonpositional awareness.
Examination of the relationship between first-order mental states and explicit positional self-knowledge.
Critical assessment of epistemic accounts in light of Boyle's framework.
Boyle's application of nonpositional self-awareness reveals instability in his explanation.
Explicit positional self-knowledge is compromised by the focus on transparency.
The critique suggests that Boyle overintellectualizes first-order mental states, raising doubts about his viability against epistemic accounts.

Abstract

Abstract After presenting Boyle’s appeal to the Sartrean notion of nonpositional self-awareness in explaining Evans’ “transparency fact” concerning self-knowledge, I argue that his explanation suffers a certain instability. To the extent that nonpositional self-awareness is taken to be a matter of first-order ‘transparent’ orientation to the world, Boyle’s suggestion concerning the character of explicit positional self-knowledge is compromised. On the other hand, to the extent that nonpositional awareness is regarded as a form of genuine self-awareness, his explanation overintellectualizes first-order mental states. I conclude by raising questions regarding Boyle’s success in providing a viable alternative to epistemic accounts of basic self-knowledge.

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