[218] The Paradox of Self-Consciousness By Jose Luis Bermudez

[218] The Paradox of Self-Consciousness By Jose Luis Bermudez

From Branches of Philosophy Podcast by Philosophy Cognitive Science

December 30, 2025 · 38 min · Episode 218

About this episode

The episode discusses the paradox of self-consciousness as presented by Jose Luis Bermudez, focusing on its implications in philosophy and psychology.

Ai generated & human edited. Introduction and summary of "The Paradox of Self-consciousness" By Jose Luis Bermudez 1998In this book, Jos Luis Berm dez addesses two fundamental problems in the philosophy and psychology of self-consciousness: (1) Can we provide a noncircular account of fully fledged self-conscious thought and language in terms of more fundamental capacities? (2) Can we explain how fully fledged self-conscious thought and language can arise in the normal course of human development? Berm dez argues that a paradox (the paradox of self-consciousness) arises from the apparent strict interdependence between self-conscious thought and linguistic self-reference. The paradox renders circular all theories that define self-consciousness in terms of linguistic mastery of the first-person pronoun. It seems to follow from the paradox of self-consciousness that no such account or explanation can be given.Drawing on recent work in empirical psychology and philosophy, the author argues that any explanation of fully fledged self-consciousness that answers these two questions requires attention to primitive forms of self-consciousness that are prelinguistic and…

People in this episode

Guest: Jose Luis Bermudez

Topics covered

  • self-consciousness
  • philosophy
  • psychology
  • linguistic self-reference
  • human development

Keywords

  • self-conscious thought
  • linguistic mastery
  • philosophy
  • psychology
  • primitive self-consciousness

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