A Constitutivist Theory of Self-Knowledge

The constitutivist view is devoted to explaining the particularity of self-knowledge and first-person authority in virtue of naturalism. To this end, it holds that higher-order beliefs and first-order attitudes are not independent of each other, but are involved in constitutive relationships. Conceptualists would attempt to demonstrate those relationships from employing some of conceptual capacities, especially the ability of critical reasoning. The default authoritative point of view resorts to the “grammar” requirement of daily discourse practice, and advocates that the subject’s attitude towards himself is innately reasonable and can be thwarted by evidence. In terms of the notion of illocutionary act, constitutivism is promising to establish a reasonable, prudential, and moderate conception of first-person authority.