Abstract

It is my intention to prove that the act of belief "2 + 2 = 4" in Smith's mind is numerically the same as the act of belief "2 + 2 = 4" in Jones's mind. That is, Smith can know or rethink in his own mind the same act of belief "2 + 2 = 4" which occurs in Jones's mind. I intend to show that "different" acts of thought can yet be numerically the same. This implies the rejection of the view that the only sense in which "different" acts of thought can be the same is the sense that they are similar instances of the same kind or class. The view that acts of thought can be the same only in the sense that they are similar is a mistaken view. The existence of a "difference" between acts of thought does not imply that they cannot be numerically the same. By an act of thought I mean a mental happening in a mind rather than the object of an act of thought, which is not itself a mental happening.