ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on Theory of Mind (ToM) processes in the understanding and definition of identity. ToM is the set of processes we employ to understand people’s thoughts and feelings. The most obvious target of ToM is other people. But ToM bears equally on our self-understanding, i.e., our comprehension of ourselves in the past or future. After outlining some features of ToM, the chapter turns to an examination of the central character in Dorothy Richardson’s autobiographical novel Pointed Roofs. Richardson portrays this character as being much more limited in her interpersonal understandings than one might expect from the social embedment of identity—and much more limited in her self-understanding than one might expect from the salience and seeming infallibility of introspection. In connection with this, Richardson’s novel may suggest that we overestimate our ToM interests and capacities with respect to others and with respect to ourselves.
