The mirror of the world : subjects, consciousness, and self-consciousness / Christopher Peacocke.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Peacocke, Christopher, author.

Series:

Context and content

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Self (Philosophy).

Subject (Philosophy).

Consciousness.

Self-consciousness (Awareness).

Self-knowledge, Theory of.

Physical Description:

xii, 283 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm.

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2014.

Summary:

Christopher Peacocke presents a philosophical theory of subjects of consciousness, together with a theory of the nature of first person representation of such a subject of consciousness. He develops a new treatment of subjects, distinct from previous theories, under which subjects were regarded either as constructs from mental events, or fundamentally embodied, or Cartesian egos. In contrast, his theory of the first person integrates with the positive treatment of subjects-and it contributes to the explanation of various distinctive first person phenomena in the theory of thought and knowledge. These are issues on which contributions have been made by some of the greatest philosophers, and Peacocke brings his points to bear on the contributions to these issues made by Hume, Kant, Frege, Wittgenstein, and Strawson. He also relates his position to the recent literature in the philosophy of mind, and then goes on to distinguish and characterize three varieties of self-consciousness. Perspectival self-consciousness involves the subject's capacity to appreciate that she is of the same kind as things given in a third personal way, and attributes the subject to a certain kind of objective thought about herself. Reflective self-consciousness involves awareness of the subject's own mental states, reached in a distinctive way. Interpersonal self-consciousness is awareness that one features, as a subject, in some other person's mental states. These varieties, and the relations and the forms of co-operation between them, are important in explaining features of our knowledge, our social relations, and our emotional lives. The theses of The Mirror of the World are of importance not only for philosophy, but also for psychology, the arts, and anywhere else that the self and self-representation loom large. The Context and Content series is a forum for outstanding original research at the intersection of philosophy, linguistics, and cognitive science. The general editor is Francois Recanati (Institut Jean-Nicod, Paris). -- Back cover.

Contents:

I Introduction 1

II Primitive Self-Representation 6

1 The Basic Notion 6

2 Self-Files 14

3 Three Degrees of Self-Representation 30

III The Metaphysics of Conscious Subjects 40

1 Consciousness and Conscious Subjects: An Interdependence 40

2 A Response to Hume 44

3 The Consequences of Interdependence 57

4 Contemporary Differences: A Historical Affinity 68

IV The First Person Concept and its Nonconceptual Parent 80

1 Some Background on Concepts 81

2 Explaining Four Phenomena 86

3 Issues of Acquaintance 99

V Explaining First Person Phenomena 106

1 Explaining Immunity to Error through Misidentification 106

2 Can We Dispense with First Person Notions and Concepts? 113

VI Descartes Defended 127

1 The Soundness of the Cogito 128

2 What Can the Perspective of Consciousness Supply? 139

3 Entitlement, the Second Cogito, and Anscombe 146

VII Paralogisms and First Person Illusions 154

1 The Issues 154

2 Some Replies to Kant's Objections 159

3 Strawson's Neo-Kantian Conception of Subjects 178

VIII Perspectival Self-Consciousness 188

1 What is the Significance of the Mirror Test? 190

2 A Wider Criterion for Perspectival Self-Consciousness 194

3 The Reorientation Account and Other Minds 203

IX Reflective Self-Consciousness 213

1 Characterizing Reflective Self-Consciousness 213

2 Metaphysics and Epistemology of Reflective Self-Consciousness 217

3 First Person Theories of Understanding, and Empirical Phenomena 223

4 Reflective and Perspectival Self-Consciousness: Their Significance for Inquiry 232

5 Reflective Self-Consciousness and the Conception of Many Minds 234

X Interpersonal Self-Consciousness 236

1 Illustration and Delineation 237

2 Some Roles of Interpersonal Self-Consciousness 243

3 Is There an Irreducible Second Person Concept? 247

4 Philosophical and Psychological Issues 250

5 Self-Consciousness: The Relations of the Interpersonal to Other Varieties 260

6 Concluding Remarks 263

Appendix A 264

Appendix B 266

XI Open Conclusion: The Place of Metaphysics 267.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 269-276) and index.

ISBN:

9780199699568

0199699569

OCLC:

872972208