How we know others has been a problem perplexing philosophers for centuries (exactly when the problem arises in the history of philosophy is a matter of some speculation). For as long as there has been a problem, there has also been an acknowledgement that the way in which we know others and the way we know ourselves is substantially different. One very early statement of the problem can be found in St. Augustine’s De Trinitate (written in the 4th century AD):
“Know thyself” is not said to the mind as…”know the will of that man”, for it is not within our reach to perceive at all, either by sense or understanding, unless by corporeal signs set forth…."
It should be remembered that when philosophers talk about knowing oneself and others they are not talking about having deep insight into character but are asking a rather more superficial question: how can I know what another is thinking or feeling? St Augustine points out that we cannot perceive the mind of another (using the will as an example of a mental state); what we perceive in the case of others are merely “corporeal signs” – i.e. bodily movements. Notice that Augustine must hold that the movement I observe has nothing of the mindful about it. For him, the movement signals something else - an “inner state” – that cannot be perceived. The same idea is to be found in the works of George Berkeley (in the 18th century), who writes:
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