What is it that determines what our thoughts mean, and how do we know what they mean? Obviously a thought must mean something in order for us to know what it means, and frequently we do know the content of our thoughts. But the converse does not hold, for we can have thoughts to whose contents we are entirely obtuse. For example, people frequently do things for reasons contrary to those they might sincerely profess. But if meaning and thought are not epistemically given, how did we develop

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... ness of them at all? How do we think about thought-both our own and that of others? This essay is an exploration of these issues to the end of understanding how it is that we come to be able to represent our purposes, intentions, and meanings.