We usually assume that because our thoughts are ours, we must understand where they come from.
The philosopher Daniel Dennett challenges that idea, and the challenge has practical consequences.
In this video, I tell a short story about a late-night decision that turned out to be life-saving, and why someone else understood the cause of that decision better than the person who made it!
You’ll discover:
• why some thoughts are easy to explain — and others aren’t
• that “hunches” are shaped by internal processes that we can’t “see”
• why outside perspectives can reveal patterns we’re blind to
• what this means when your thinking feels stuck or unhelpful
This isn’t about intelligence or insight.
It’s about the limits of self-understanding — and why getting an outside view can sometimes change everything.
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⸻ 👉 Full text:
This simple but unsettling idea comes from the philosopher Daniel Dennett:
You don’t have privileged access to the causes of your own thoughts.
…
For example, I’m walking down a street in New York at night and, for no particular reason, decide to cross the road to the other side.
As I reach the other pavement, I see a dark figure jump out of the alleyway and grab the guy who’d been walking just behind me! Had I not crossed the road, he would have got me.
The mugger had a gun and got away with a wallet and an iPhone.
A squad car turned up, and I was questioned: why did you cross the road?
“A hunch, I guess” was my only explanation.
“Have you ever seen the film Ghost?”, asked the cop, looking slightly amused.
“Sure”, I said, “hasn’t everybody?”.
“Not that fellah”, he said, pointing to the mugger’s victim. “That was the alley the killer came out of in the film – if you saw the film, you must have recognised it somehow!”
The cop knew what caused my hunch better than I did!
…
Some thoughts are easy to explain.
• If someone asks how you worked out that 5 × 10 = 50, you can walk them through the steps.
Others aren’t.
• Faced with a page of trading options, you might choose one stock over another.
• You could probably justify your choice.
• But, very often, you wouldn’t be able to untangle and clearly describe the mental processes that led to it.
In fact, a third-party expert — with access to your education, experience, and psychological profile — might explain your decision better than you could yourself.
That’s Dennett’s point again:
You don’t know anything privileged about the cause of your own thoughts.
…
This idea is hard to refute, even though it clashes with the deep-seated assumption we’ve held for centuries. That is:
• Because my thoughts are mine, I must be the best person to explain them.
This assumption shows up everywhere — not just in philosophy or science, but in everyday life.
When things don’t go the way you want, you tend to think:
• “I’m the one best placed to work out why — I know my mind. I can fix it.”
But what if that isn’t true?
Mark Twain put it neatly:
“It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.”
Do you really know your mind? No, you don’t.
…
So here’s a suggestion for the year ahead.
If:
• you’re unhappy with your progress on something important,
• your thinking feels stuck or unhelpful,
• and you don’t know what to change…
…consider getting someone else involved.
A colleague, an outsider, a coach — may be able to shine new light on your thoughts and actions.
Not because they’re smarter than you.
But because they’re outside, observing you, rather than inside your head, looking in.
⸻ 👉 To go further:
📖 I’ve Been Thinking – Daniel C Dennett on a lifetime of philosophical thought.
🌐 More articles, videos, tools, etc. : https://iconda.solutions and look for the RESOURCES menu
#SelfAwareness #ThinkingAboutThinking #PsychologyOfThinking #HowTheMindWorks #DecisionMaking #DanielDennett #CriticalThinking #HumanBehavior #CoachingPerspective
