The Epistemic Significance of Maintaining Consistency in Confabulations

Abstract

The paper examines the epistemic significance of maintaining consistency in confabulations. It has been argued recently that confabulations might have some positive epistemic features; notable among them is maintaining a consistent set of beliefs about oneself. This paper focuses on confabulatory beliefs which are not connected with a self-concept. However, it is demonstrated that such beliefs might contribute to maintaining narrative consistency and thus also yield some epistemic benefits. The author analyzes cases of confabulations concerning legends and fairy-tales, and shows how confabulatory utterances contribute to the maintenance of consistency. The examples analyzed include both clinical and non-clinical confabulations; yet, in all instances, confabulations contribute to maintaining narrative consistency. Subsequently, the author compares the ways of maintaining consistency in confabulations and in mundane cognition. Based on Melvin Pollner's conception of mundane reasoning, it is demonstrated that maintaining consistency is a fundamental principle of organizing mundane accounts. It is also proposed that basic principles of mundane cognition have substantial epistemic functions; among them, their foundational role and their contribution to the sense of ontological security are of particular importance. Finally, it is shown that confabulations of a certain type might have the same epistemic functions. Consequently, producing confabulatory accounts might yield significant epistemic benefits in certain cases.