Seminar with Maria Stoicheva

Maria Stoicheva (Department of European Studies; Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski") visits the Wittgenstein Archives in the period 21.2.-17.3.2011. In this context, a seminar is organized:

Monday, 14 March 2011, 14.15-16.00, Wittgenstein Archives, Philosophy Department, Sydnesplassen 12, room 130:

Language and Identity: On Wittgenstein’s ideas about the use of the pronoun “I”

In this talk I will try to elucidate Wittgenstein’s treatment of the personal pronoun “I”. The question is this: when someone uses the pronoun “I”, what did Wittgenstein think that he is doing with it? Is he using it to refer to himself or is he doing something else with it? ‘I’-thoughts give rise to some of the most challenging philosophical questions. These are special problems about personal identity: the ‘peculiar’ sense in which a person is conscious of his/her own identity and the issue of self-consciousness. They are interwoven in Wittgenstein’s treatment of the use of the pronoun “I” and this can lead us to finding out more about the peculiarity of personal identity in the contemporary philosophical context.

I would welcome the discussion as an opportunity to share with you my line of reasoning and perspective on the issue. I would also welcome questions about points in my argument and alternative or critical suggestions.