Abstract
Recent literature on epistemic innocence develops the idea that a defective cognitive process may nevertheless merit special consideration insofar as it confers an epistemic benefit that would not otherwise be available. For example, confabulation may be epistemically innocent when it makes a subject more likely to form future true beliefs or helps her maintain a coherent self-concept. I consider the role of confabulation in typical cases of interpersonal gaslighting, and argue that confabulation will not be epistemically innocent in such cases even if it does preserve a coherent self-concept or belief-set for the subject. Analyzing the role of confabulation in gaslighting illustrates its role in on-going interpersonal relationships, and augments already growing evidence that confabulation may be quite widespread. The role of confabulation in gaslighting shows that whether confabulation confers epistemic benefits (and so is epistemically innocent) will depend greatly on the interpersonal context in which it is deployed, while whether a coherent self-concept is epistemically beneficial will depend to a great extent on the content of that self-concept. This shows that the notion of an epistemically harmful or beneficial feature of a cognitive process can and should be further clarified, and that doing so has both theoretical and practical advantages in understanding epistemic innocence itself.
Highlights
This essay is about the role of confabulation in prototypical cases of gaslighting, and about whether such confabulation is epistemically innocent
While the victim may initially be unsure about her confabulation in this case, Footnote 22 this context, and I think that this being the case is better, as it places the focus squarely on the question of whether or not these candidates for epistemic innocence really are epistemically beneficial
The first is that prototypical cases of gaslighting involve confabulation on the part of both gaslighter and victim
Summary
In the 1944 film Gas Light, Paula (Ingrid Bergman) is the victim of gaslighting on the part of her husband, Gregory (Charles Boyer). Unbeknownst to herself, Paula is in possession of priceless jewels that belonged to her aunt, a famous opera singer mysteriously murdered when Paula was a girl. Often hears mysterious footsteps in the attic Gregory repeatedly assures her that she is imagining things, suggests that she is “over-tired”, and questions her memory and perceptions. After a close tournament loss in which Collier’s less than supportive approach has played a clear role, Pat finds herself in crisis Her confidence and life-goals shaky, Collier takes advantage of the opportunity to press her to give up her. Career (something Pat clearly does not want) and marry him (“Why don’t you just let me take charge!” says Collier at one point) During their conversation, Collier refuses to express support for Pat, tacitly but persistently suggests doubt in her ability to make judgments for herself, and issues the subtle threat that her failure to see things his way might result in the end of their relationship Whereas Gregory’s gaslighting of Paula is about gaining control over her by means of providing her with significant but false evidence against trust in her own agency, Collier’s gaslighting of Pat attempts to undermine her sense of her own agency largely by marshalling her emotional commitment to him (as well as her own diminished self-confidence), but with the clear goal of ensuring that she comply with his vision of their future together
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