E-Book Overview
The interest in a better understanding of what is constitutive for being a person is a concern philosophy shares with some of the sciences. The views currently discussed in evolutionary biology and in the neurosciences are very much influenced by traditional philosophical views about the self and self-knowledge, while contemporary philosophical accounts are not considered at all. Such an account will be given by an analysis of three focal elements of the use of the first-person pronoun. These elements have something to do with the faculty of taking a first-person point of view. The conceptual structure of this point of view is explained by comparing it with a second- and third-person point of view. There is an extensive discussion of various views about self-knowledge (Davidson, Bilgrami, Burge), and a new conception of authoritative self-knowledge is established. The first-person point of view is a reflexive attitude which includes various attitudes to one's past and future. These attitudes are necessarily or contingently de se. By bringing into focus the concern for one's future intentions will be discussed as an activity-based attitude, while there are other attitudes, like hope or fear, which are shaped by the acceptance of one's future situations which are not, or not completely under one's control. This view gives rise to a criticism of Frankfurt's notion of Caring.
E-Book Content
Wolfgang Carl The First-Person Point of View Wolfgang Carl The First-Person Point of View ISBN 978-3-11-035917-6 e-ISBN 978-3-11-036285-5 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A CIP catalog record for this book has been applied for at the Library of Congress. Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data are available in the Internet at http://dnb.dnb.de. © 2014 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston Typesetting: eScriptum GmbH & Co. KG, Berlin Printing and binding: CPI books GmbH, Leck ♾ Printed on acid-free paper Printed in Germany www.degruyter.com Preface This book originated in lectures and seminars given at the universities of Göttingen, Florence and Halle. Its various topics were also presented at different talks in the philosophy departments of the universities of Buenos Aires and Campinas (Brazil) as well as at Columbia University and the University of Heidelberg. The many objections and challenges raised by my colleagues and students have helped me clarify my thoughts and focus on what is essential to my project. I want to thank in particular Sergio Bernini for his enduring interest and the patience he showed through discussions of the various issues over caffè latte. I do appreciate the perseverance and understanding of Klaus Nickau who read a final German version of the entire book. I am especially grateful for substantial comments and constructive support from Andor Carius who translated a very German text into an understandable English equivalent. Christopher Evans reviewed the whole translation and improved it in various respects. My debts to my wife Helga remain primary. She gave love, inspiration, and encouragement. The topic of the book can be designated briefly and simply, but it is not so easy to describe the project. It transcends the narrow limits of established philosophical disciplines, because it plays an important role in various fields of philosophy. The topic it concerns is not only addressed by philosophers. My aim was to account for this thematic complexity by identifying its core issues and by discussing their manifestations in different philosophical disciplines. I am sure that this can be achieved in many other ways as well. I wanted to show that such a nucleus exists at all. Contents Introduction | 1 A Primate Resea