The Self and Self-Knowledge

Coliva, Annalisa (editor)

ISBN 10: 0199590656 / ISBN 13: 9780199590650

Published by Oxford University Press: Oxford, 2012, 2012

About this Item

Cloth with dustwrapper, 286pp. 1st edition, 1st impression. Notes, author index, subject index. 16x23,5x2,1cm. In fine condition. Seller Inventory # 45802

Bibliographic Details

Title: The Self and Self-Knowledge

Publisher: Oxford University Press: Oxford, 2012

Publication Date: 2012

Binding: Hardcover

Condition: Good

Dust Jacket Condition: Dust Jacket Included

Edition: 1st Edition

About this title

Synopsis:

A team of leading experts investigate a range of philosophical issues to do with the self and self-knowledge. Self and Self-Knowledge focuses on two main problems: how to account for I-thoughts and the consequences that doing so would have for our notion of the self; and how to explain subjects' ability to know the kind of psychological states they enjoy, which characteristically issues in psychological self-ascriptions.

The first section of the volume consists of essays that, by appealing to different considerations which range from the normative to the phenomenological, offer an assessment of the animalist conception of the self. The second section presents an examination as well as a defence of the new epistemic paradigm, largely associated with recent work by Christopher Peacocke, according to which knowledge of our own mental states and actions should be based on an awareness of them and of our attempts to bring them about. The last section explores a range of different perspectives--from neo-expressivism to constitutivism--in order to assess the view that self-knowledge is more robust than any other form of knowledge. While the contributors differ in their specific philosophical positions, they all share the view that careful philosophical analysis is needed before scientific research can be fruitfully brought to bear on the issues at hand. These thought-provoking essays provide such an analysis and greatly deepen our understanding of these central aspects of our mentality.

About the Author:

Annalisa Coliva is Associate Professor at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia (Italy), and Associate Director of the research centre COGITO. After receiving a BA in Philosophy from the University of Bologna, she obtained a MLitt and a PhD from St Andrews, as well as a PhD from Vercelli. She has been Fulbright and Alexander von Humboldt Fellow at Columbia and Heidelberg respectively, as well as Fellow of the Italian Academy at Columbia University in the city of New York. She has authored seven books, edited four, and published several articles in international journals.