Reflexivity

A close-knit family of conceptual structures underlies the range of philosophical phenomena from Descartes’ Cogito through semantic and set-theoretical paradoxes to some of the major limitative results of twentieth-century logic. At issue are questions of indexicals, the nature of semantics, free will and determinism, and contemporary debates regarding the nature of consciousness.

The conceptual structures that underlie all of these are variations on a single theme: the theme of reflexivity.

Our attempt here is to characterize reflexive conceptual structures more thoroughly and more precisely than has been done before, making explicit the structure of paradox and the clear connections to major logical results. Our goal is to trace the structure of reflexivity in sentences, sets, and systems, but also as it appears in propositional attitudes, mental states, perspectives and processes. What an understanding of patterns of reflexivity offers is a deeper and de-mystified understanding of issues of semantics, free will, and the nature of consciousness.


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REFLEXIVITY



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