The Self in Question

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xii

   PDF

2. Introduction

   • Andy Hamilton

   Pages 1-9

3. Self-Consciousness and Its Linguistic Expression

   • Andy Hamilton

   Pages 10-35

4. Memory and Self-Consciousness (1): Immunity to Error through Misidentification and the Critique of Quasi-Memory

   • Andy Hamilton

   Pages 36-74

5. Memory and Self-Consciousness (2): The Conceptual Holism of Memory and Personal Identity, and the Unity of Consciousness

   • Andy Hamilton

   Pages 75-104

6. Proprioception and Self-Consciousness (1): Proprioception as Direct, Immediate Knowledge of the Body

   • Andy Hamilton

   Pages 105-135

7. Proprioception and Self-Consciousness (2): Self-Conscious Knowledge and the Rejection of Self-Presentation

   • Andy Hamilton

   Pages 136-171

8. Self-Identification and Self-Reference

   • Andy Hamilton

   Pages 172-198

9. Humanism and Animal Self-Consciousness

   • Andy Hamilton

   Pages 199-229

10. Back Matter

    Pages 230-249

    PDF

A humanistic account of self-consciousness and personal identity, and offering a structural parallel between the epistemology of memory and bodily awareness. It provides a much-needed rapprochement between Analytic and Phenomenological approaches, developing Wittgenstein's insights into "I"-as-subject and self-identification.  

• body
• concept
• consciousness
• epistemology
• knowledge
• Ludwig Wittgenstein
• phenomenology

“The book examines the relation between self-consciousness and: memory, personal identity, proprioception, the body and linguistic mastery of the first-person. … The book has a usefully detailed table of contents and clear introductory chapter. The different parts of the book seem relatively independent … . Students of self-consciousness and related topics will find it a stimulating read overall as well a useful resource to consult at the more local level.” (Daniel Morgan, Analysis, Vol. 76 (3), July, 2016)

"Andy Hamilton's The Self in Question is a penetrating and refreshingly original work on the related topics of self-consciousness, memory, self-reference, and personal identity. It locates previously unrecognised connections between these topics, and its discussion of conceptual holisms is particularly important. Hamilton carves out a distinctive and plausible position covering a wide range of key topics in epistemology, metaphysics, and the philosophy of language, and he does so in a way that will be useful to readers both inside and outside the Analytic tradition." Stephen Braude, University of Maryland, USA

• University of Durham, UK

  Andy Hamilton

Andy Hamilton teaches philosophy at Durham University, UK. His publications include Aesthetics and Music (2007), Lee Konitz: Conversations on the Improviser's Art (2007), Scruton's Aesthetics (2012, co-edited with Nick Zangwill), The Routledge Philosophy Guidebook to Wittgenstein and On Certainty (forthcoming) and many articles in aesthetics and philosophy of mind.
 

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