Material People in Logical Space: A Two-Dimensionalist Approach to the Self

null, Clas Weber (University of Western Australia)

In this talk I want to defend a certain combination of views concerning the self. I argue that it is possible to combine phenomenalism about the concept of the self with materialism about its nature. I consider two objections against this package deal: i.) the argument from disembodiment and ii.) Bayne’s objection to substrate phenomenalism. I respond to these objections by using the two-dimensionalist analysis of necessary aposteriori and contingent apriori statements. Both responses appeal to different forms of modal illusions. I maintain that the objection from disembodiment relies on a modal illusion connected to the necessary a posteriori, and that Bayne’s objection relies on a modal illusion connected to the contingent apriori.