Self-reference and self-identification

Monima Chadha (Monash University)

The debates surrounding the reference of "I" in the Indian and Western traditions are philosophically embroiled in metaphysical questions about the existence and the nature of the self. However, questions like what, if anything, does "I" refer to are not as intractable as metaphysical questions about the nature of the self. A good strategy to approach the self/no-self debate is to begin by answering the question about the referent of "I" and then use semantics as a guide for making progress on the metaphysics of the self.  This strategy, I will argue, takes us quite a distance in the self/no-self debate for it clarifies what kind of object the self must be.