Reflexive Awareness (Consciousness, Self-Consciousness, Self-Awareness)

In four chapters, I conduct a phenomenological and analytical inquiry into the nature of a special sort of reflexive awareness, an awareness of unprojected or unobjectified awareness. The clearest example of this is the awareness that is felt to be in the background of an experience of dissociatively watching oneself. I call this awareness, RA*. It is to be contrasted with two other sorts of reflexive awareness: (i) awareness of the fact that I am now aware (e.g., there is a visual object before me, therefore I must be seeing), (ii) awareness of past awareness, which in being outside present experience is no longer unprojected, but projected in relation to the second-order awareness. I contend that these latter two sorts of reflexive awareness presuppose the occurrence of RA*.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Philosophy

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Date dc:date

10000-01-01

Author dc:creator

• Harney, Denis Francis

• Philosophy

Identifier

(UMI)AAI8422074

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/71560