Transparency and the First Person

Presenter: Andre Gallois (Syracuse University, NY)

In my talk I explore a connection between self-consciousness and what has become known as the transparency of belief to the world. The version of the transparency of belief that I focus is this. Ones answer to the question whether P should match ones answer to the question whether one believes P. I examine the ramifications of transparency for our understanding of thinking of oneself in what has been called a de se fashion: that is utilizing the first person concept associated with the use of ‘I’. I also discuss the bearing of these issues on the distinction between the first and third person perspective.