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The Metaphysical Self

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 October 2008

Roger Trigg
Affiliation:
Department at Philosophy, University of Warwick, England

Extract

What is the self? What is the ‘I’ that appears to be the subject of all ‘my’ thoughts and imaginings, my experiences and desires? This is not simply about problems of identification. How I pick you out or you recognize me are questions related to the problem of what it is to be or you, but they are not the same issue. If our ‘true selves’ are inaccessible to public scrutiny, how we are identified and re-identified publicly will be different from who ‘we’ are. The problem of the self is a genuinely metaphysical question which cannot be reduced to the epistemological one of how we know each other, without further argument.

Information

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1988

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