 Many of our mental states, such as itches and tickles, are states we simply undergo. But some argue that others are active. “Our rational beliefs and intentions are not mere mental attitudes, but active states of normative commitment” (Korsgaard 2009: 39). This idea inspires the claim, central to many versions of agentialism, that the truly distinctive kind of self-knowledge is knowledge of these “active states of normative commitment”  (see 3.7).  Such self-knowledge is distinctive because believing and intending are things we do. According to these agentialists, this means that rational beliefs and intentions are not known simply through observation, which is the means by which we know other empirical phenomena (including sensations). 