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Some Reflections on Our Knowledge of Other Selves

Wiki Markup1) According to Ian Ramsey, "I become aware of myself as I become aware of an environment transcending observables" (Prospect for Metaphysics, become aware of an environment transcending observables" (Prospect for Metaphysics, l67f.). I I.e., we talk of ourselves in terms of "I" "because we recognize it \recognize it [sc. "I"\] as being used as an indicator word by others for themselves, relating  relating to their public behaviour and more, and we recognize that we ourselves want to talk precisely of that we ourselves want to talk precisely of that...and so of 'I'."  "It is not likely that we should use is not likely that we should use 'I' for ourselves, if there were nothing else but were nothing else but ourselves." We become aware of ourselves as we become aware of others, so that "the use of the word aware of others, so that "the use of the word 'I' commits us...to pluralism of pluralism of persons."

On my view, the very nature of our experience as both sen­suous and nonsensuous entails that, like the animals, we are always a1­ready aware (even if not humanly aware) of "an environment transcending observables." Thus the discovery of ourselves and others, as well as our discovery of an environment of observable objects, is of the order of a finer discrimination of a datum of which we were in some sense aware before the discovery. To this extent, Ramsey's view of the origin of the experience of sociability does not reach back far enough to recover the real origins-or, better, all the originating factors-of that experience.

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