Mental Incorrigibility and Higher Order Seemings

Suppose that the phenomenal view of seemings is true. So, for it to seem to S that P, S must have a propositional attitude towards P that comes with a truthlike feel. Now suppose that we are not infallible when it comes to our own mental states. We cannot be absolutely certain that we are in a certain mental state. So, we can make mistakes when we judge whether or not it seems to us that P.

Now put it all together. In cases where S judges that it seems to her that P, but she is mistaken, what is going on? Did it actually seem to her that P or did she mistakenly judge that it did? If it’s the former, then it is unclear to me how S could mistakenly judge that it seems to her that P. Seeming states on the phenomenal view seem to be the sorts of mental states we should be aware of when we experience them. If it's the latter, then it is unclear whether higher order seemings can solve our problem.

If a subject is experiencing a seeming state and judges that it seems to her that P, then there has to be some sort of luck going on that disconnects the seeming state from her judgment such that she does not know that it seems to her that P. Maybe she’s very distracted when she focuses her awareness onto her seeming state to form her judgment and that generates the discrepancy. I’m not really sure how plausible such a proposal would ultimately be. Instead, if the subject is not actually in a seeming state, then we need to explain what is going on when she mistakenly judges that she is in one. One possibility is that there are higher order seemings. Such seemings take first order seemings as their contents. On this view, it could seem to us that it seems that P is the case.

The idea of higher order seemings repulses me, but it could be true. Or, in a more reductionist spirit, we could say that higher order seemings are just a form of introspective awareness of our first order seemings. But I am worried that such a proposal would reintroduce the original problem linked to fallibility. If I can mistakenly judge that it seems to be that it seems to me that P, then what is going on with that higher order (introspective) seeming? The issue seems to come back to bite us in the ass. But it might do that on any proposal about higher order seemings, assuming we have accepted that we are not infallible mental state detectors. Maybe we just need to accept a regress of seemings, or maybe we should stop talking about them. Like always, I’ll just throw my hands up in the air and get distracted by a different issue rather than come up with a concrete solution.