"The Paradox of Self-Consciousness" by José Luis Burmùdez [Book Review]
Philosophical Review 1 (4):624 (2001)
Abstract
What José Luis Bermúdez calls the paradox of self-consciousness is essentially the conflict between two claims:
(1) The capacity to use first-personal referential devices like “I” must be explained in terms of the capacity to think first-person thoughts.
(2) The only way to explain the capacity for having a certain kind of thought is by explaining the capacity for the canonical linguistic expression of thoughts of that kind. (Bermúdez calls this the “Thought-Language Principle”.)
The conflict between (1) and (2) is obvious enough. However, if a paradox is an unacceptable conclusion drawn from apparently valid reasoning from apparently true premises, then Bermúdez’s conflict is no paradox. It is rather a conflict between the view that thought must be explained in terms of language, and the view that first person linguistic reference must be explained in terms of first-person thought. Neither
view is immediately obvious, and nor is it obvious that the arguments for either are equally compelling. What we have here is a difference of philosophical opinion, not a paradox.
Keywords
Categories
(categorize this paper)
Reprint years
2000, 2001
ISBN(s)
0031-8108
DOI
PhilPapers/Archive ID
CRARTP
Upload history
Archival date: 2016-09-26
View other versions
View other versions
Added to PP index
2010-09-12
Total views
181 ( #27,023 of 55,833 )
Recent downloads (6 months)
17 ( #38,188 of 55,833 )
2010-09-12
Total views
181 ( #27,023 of 55,833 )
Recent downloads (6 months)
17 ( #38,188 of 55,833 )
How can I increase my downloads?
Downloads since first upload
This graph includes both downloads from PhilArchive and clicks on external links on PhilPapers.