XII - Why are indexicals essential?
Abstract
Despite recent challenges, it is commonly held that certain indexical terms such as ‘I', ‘here’ and ‘now’ have a necessary or ‘essential’ role in certain kinds of action. I argue that this is correct, and I offer an explanation. A use of an indexical term of the kind in question connotes a specific relation between the thinking subject and the reference of the indexical. The mental representation of this relation has an epistemic feature that I call first-person redundancy. I show through a regress argument that a mental state of this kind is essential for common kinds of action, and perhaps for all actions.
Citation
Prosser , S J 2015 , ' XII - Why are indexicals essential? ' , Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society , vol. 115 , no. 3 pt 3 , pp. 211-233 . https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9264.2015.00392.x
Publication
Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society
Status
Peer reviewed
ISSN
0066-7374Type
Journal article
Rights
© 2015 The Aristotelian Society. This work is made available online in accordance with the publisher’s policies. This is the author created, accepted version manuscript following peer review and may differ slightly from the final published version. The final published version of this work is available at https://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9264.2015.00392.x
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