Some Further Remarks on the “I”

Abstract

The paper argues that Wittgenstein’s discussion of first person statements involves a
semantic ambiguity with respect to the use of “I”. This implies, it seems, that the
question whether “I” is a referring expression cannot be answered without considering
the particular context in which it is applied. Whereas in some cases “I” might refer
to an individual, the metaphysical use of the first person pronoun cannot be
justified by pointing to a mental substance as its meaning, independent of the
question whether such an entity really exists.