Transcendence of the Ego (The Non-Existent Knight)

Author: Bas C. van Fraassen

Source: Ratio, Volume 17, Number 4, December 2004 , pp. 453-477(25)

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Abstract:

I exist, but I am not a thing among things; X exists if and only if there is something such that it=X. This is consistent, and it is a view that can be supported. Calvino’s novel The Non-Existent Knight can be read so as to illustrate this view. But what is my relation to the things there are if I am not identical with any of them – things such as my arms, my garden, the city I live in? I name this the Gurduloo problem, after the Knight’s page. This relation must be one that admits of degrees; I suggest that we say that I manifest myself through the things thus associated with me. Several pseudo-problems, pertaining to volitional action, supervenience, observability, and the emergence of consciousness, dissolve upon inspection.

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9329.2004.00265.x

Affiliations: 1: Princeton University, Princeton, NJ USA

Publication date: 2004-12-01