Kant's Theory of Self-Consciousness [Hardcover]

From Descartes to Hume, philosophers in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries developed a dialectic of radically conflicting claims about the nature of the self. In the Paralogisms ofThe Critique of Pure Reason, Kant comes to terms with this dialectic and with the character of the experiencing self. In this study, Powell seeks to elucidate these difficult texts, showing that the structure of the Paralogisms provides an essential key to understanding both Kant's critique of rational psychology and his theory of self-consciousness. As Kant realized, the ways in which we must represent ourselves to ourselves have import not only for epistemology, but for our view of persons and of our own immortality, as well as for moral philosophy. His theory of self-consciousness is also shown to have implications for contemporary discussions of the problem of other minds, functionalism, and the problem of indexical self-reference.

Powell's discussion is surely one from which any devotee of this topic will learn, whether or not he agrees in the end. --Philosophy and Phenomenological Research

Recommended for advanced undergraduates and up --Choice

Interesting and quite persuasive. --Review of Metaphysics