CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2021
| Author | Mazouji, Rojin |
|---|---|
| Title | Fichte's heritage to Agentialist account of Self-knowledge |
| Summary | Abstract One of the frequent criticisms leveled at Agentialist account of self-knowledge is its limited application. This means that .there are forms of self-knowledge that cannot be explained by the version of deliberative self-knowledge, for instance: appetite or recalcitrant attitude. Matthew Boyle, in his famous paper, Two kinds of Self-knowledge, tries to address the issue of limited application by appealing to Kant’s ideas about two different sorts of self-knowledge. The knowledge in which we understand ourselves as passive being and the knowledge that we realize ourselves as active being. While the former self-knowledge shows us our sensation, the latter involves our thinking and judgements. Boyle also claims for a priority of the latter form over the former. This distinction between the two different states of self-knowledge relates to a much more fundamental question. In what context should consciousness itself be defined? Should we look at self-consciousness as a representation that is obtained objectively through introspection or an ‘inward gaze’? Or should it be understood as a subject that refers to itself at the same time as producing an action? Fichte opened a new path and explained that the attitude of all the predecessors towards the question of consciousness and self is based on the theory of reflection. According to this circular method, the subject 'I' can never be grasped, and we will eventually fall into the trap of assuming an objective 'I' instead of the subject 'I'. The simple form of the problem is that agency cannot be proved based on objective 'I'. The solution that Fichte finds was the pre-reflective theory of self-awareness. I would propose that Fichte and his basic principle of Science of Knowledge can provide a stable and reliable foundation for Agentialists to defend the claim that active self-knowledge prior and pre-condition of the passive self-knowledge. |
| Supervisor | Ferenc Huoranszki |
| Department | Philosophy MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2021/mazouji_rojin.pdf |
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