4 - The Conditions of Self-Reference

Summary

Chapter 4, “The Conditions of Self-Reference”, examines two ways in which one can conceptually represent oneself in judgements, in light of the results of the Paralogisms (in the Transcendental Dialectic of the first Critique). The logical “I” defines the way in which any thinking subject must represent itself in thought, and hence its logical predicates are conditions of I-judgements in general. The psychological “I” is used to represent oneself in empirical I-judgements, viz. inner experience, and under the temporal conditions of perception (which were derived in Chapter 2). Yet a close reading of the Paralogism of Personal Identity, and other passages, reveals that the principle of persistence cannot be applied in inner experience. The category of substance, therefore, requires a different kind of sensible explication to capture the trans-temporal unity of persons.