# Why outer class cannot see private members of inner class?

**URL:** <https://discuss.kotlinlang.org/t/why-outer-class-cannot-see-private-members-of-inner-class/6791>\
**Category:** Language Design\
**Created:** [February 26, 2018, 6:38pm UTC](https://discuss.kotlinlang.org/t/why-outer-class-cannot-see-private-members-of-inner-class/6791 "2018-02-26T18:38:16Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 2

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**Author:** ![pdvrieze](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/discuss.kotlinlang.org/pdvrieze/32/1882_2.png) [@pdvrieze](https://discuss.kotlinlang.org/u/pdvrieze)\
**Post date:** [February 26, 2018, 9:47pm UTC](https://discuss.kotlinlang.org/t/why-outer-class-cannot-see-private-members-of-inner-class/6791/2 "2018-02-26T21:47:41Z")

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Probably because the JVM actually can’t and Java generates appropriate synthetic accessors. Kotlin just tries to limit the idea in the first place.

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