The Paradox of Self-Consciousness (Representation and Mind) - Hardcover

Bermudez, Jose Luis

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0262024411 ISBN 13: 9780262024419

Publisher: Mit Pr, 1998

Synopsis

In this book, Jose Luis Bermudez addesses two fundamental problems in the philosophy and psychology of self-consciousness: (1) Can we provide a noncircular account of fully fledged self-conscious thought and language in terms of more fundamental capacities? (2) Can we explain how fully fledged self-conscious thought and language can arise in the normal course of human development? Bermudez argues that a paradox (the paradox of self-consciousness) arises from the apparent strict interdependence between self-conscious thought and linguistic self-reference. The paradox renders circular all theories that define self-consciousness in terms of linguistic mastery of the first-person pronoun. It seems to follow from the paradox of self-consciousness that no such account or explanation can be given.

elinguistic and preconceptual. Such primitive forms of self-consciDrawing on recent work in empirical psychology and philosophy, the author argues that any explanation of fully fledged self-consciousness that answers these two questions requires attention to primitive forms of self-consciousness that are prousness are to be found in somatic proprioception, the structure of exteroceptive perception, and prelinguistic forms of social interaction. The author uses these primitive forms of self-consciousness to dissolve the paradox of self-consciousness and to show how the two questions can be given an affirmative answer.

About this title

About the Author

José Luis Bermúdez is Lecturer in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Stirling, Scotland.

Edition details

• Publisher: Mit Pr
• Publication date: 1998
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0262024411
• ISBN 13: 9780262024419
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 236