Beyond the Cartesian Self

Summary

The review discusses various approaches to bridging the gap between first-person and third-person accounts of consciousness, highlighting the challenges in reconciling these perspectives. It emphasizes that first-person data cannot be wholly reduced to third-person data, particularly when the subject matter involves first-person experiences, referencing thinkers like Carnap and Schrödinger.

Study at a glance

Abstract

I review a number of approaches that attempt to deal with the gap that seems to exist between first-person and third-person accounts of consciousness, and some of the conceptual, epistemological, and methodological issues that surround this distinction. I argue, with reference to Carnap and Schrödinger, that one cannot simply reduce data from the first-person perspective to third-person data, without remainder, especially when the very subject matter of the science includes the first-person perspective.

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