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Full-Text Articles in History of Philosophy

Re-Reading Anscombe On 'I', Robert J. Stainton Dec 2017

Re-Reading Anscombe On 'I', Robert J. Stainton

Robert J. Stainton

According to a certain ‘Straight Reading’ of Elizabeth Anscombe’s ‘The First Person’, she holds a Radically Non-Referring view of ‘I’. Specifically, ‘I’ is analogized to the expletive ‘it’ in ‘It’s raining’. I argue that this is not her position. Her substantive view on ‘I’, rather, is that if what you mean by ‘referring term’ is a certain rich and recherché Frege-inspired notion, then ‘I’ is not one. Her methodological point is that one shouldn’t be bewitched by language into thinking that ‘I’, because of its syntax and logical role, must exhibit ‘reference’ in this sense. Anscombe uses this insight to …


An Anscombean Reference For I?, Andrew Botterell, Robert J. Stainton Dec 2017

An Anscombean Reference For I?, Andrew Botterell, Robert J. Stainton

Robert J. Stainton

No abstract provided.