The Paradox of Self-Consciousness - Couverture rigide

Bermudez, Jose Luis

Couverture rigide

ISBN 10 : 0262024411 ISBN 13 : 9780262024419

Editeur : Bradford Books, 1998

Synopsis

In this book, José Luis Bermúdez addresses 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? Bermúdez 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.

Drawing 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 prelinguistic and preconceptual. Such primitive forms of self-consciousness 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.

A propos du livre

À propos de l?auteur

José Luis Bermúdez is Professor of Philosophy at Texas A&M University. He is the coeditor of The Body and the Self (MIT Press) and the author of The Paradox of Self-Consciousness (MIT Press) and several other books, including most recently Understanding “I”: Language and Thought.

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: Bradford Books
• Date d'édition: 1998
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 0262024411
• ISBN 13: 9780262024419
• Reliure: Relié
• Nombre de pages: 356
• Coordonnées du fabricant: non disponible
• Personne responsable: non disponible