INTRODUCTION

We are often in the position of knowing something about another's state of mind and wanting to know more. For example, I may know of my friend Maria (hereafter ‘M’) that she believes that p1, p2 … and pn, and has set herself to reflect on whether q; I would like to know what conclusion she has reached. Or I know something about her projects and wonder what particular moves she will take to fulfil them. Or I know that she will shortly receive certain information and wonder how she will feel about it. Or I know that she had certain visual experiences and wonder what kinds of afterimages, if any, they produced. Quite often, also, when we are curious in these sorts of ways about others' mental states we can come up with an answer. How do we do it?

Psychological states are extremely various, as are also the kinds of interactions they have with each other. I myself am extremely doubtful that there is any one story to be told about how we proceed in all cases. So the purpose of this essay is not to answer in full generality the question of how we form views on others' thoughts, but only to explore how we may articulate one particular story about how we do it in some cases, namely the cases I mentioned first, where what interests me is what M has concluded about whether q, in the light of her other beliefs.