What’s so special about first-person thought’ (Project lead Stephan Torre (Aberdeen)
The Network is comprised of researchers from University of Aberdeen, ConceptLab, Institut Jean Nicod, Logos, University of Oxford, University of St. Andrews and Tufts University seeking to understand the nature of first-person thought.
There is a deep disagreement over the philosophical significance of first-person thought. Many philosophers take it to be well-established that thoughts about the self fundamentally differ in nature from thoughts about other individuals and raise deep philosophical questions. Others maintain that their colleagues have succumbed to an attractive, yet unmotivated, myth and in fact there is nothing special or philosophically profound about first-person thoughts.
This radical difference of opinion cries out for further exploration: is there really something special about first-person thought?
The project is structured into three phases, each attempting to answer distinct questions about the nature of first-person thought:
The first phase of the project will aim to clarify and demarcate what unique problems are raised by the phenomenon of first-person thought. The second phase of the project will consider the relation between the phenomenon of first-person thought and the more general phenomenon arising from so-called Frege puzzles.
The third phase of the project will employ the results of the first two phases to address implications for the nature of thought and the self.
For more information, please visit the project website.