Self-Reference

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-2

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2. Introduction

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 3-3

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   2. Varieties of Self-Reference

      • Steven J. Bartlett

      Pages 5-28

3. Informal Reflections

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 29-29

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   2. Self-Reference and Meaning in a Natural Language

      • D. A. Whewell

      Pages 31-40

   3. Logical Rudeness

      • Peter Suber

      Pages 41-67

   4. The Pragmatic Paradox

      • Myron Miller

      Pages 68-87

   5. Argumentum ad Hominem with and without Self-Reference

      • Henry W. Johnstone Jr.

      Pages 88-91

   6. The Irreflexivity of Knowledge

      • Douglas Odegard

      Pages 92-109

4. Formal Reflections

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 111-111

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   2. Formalized Self-Reference

      • Frederic B. Fitch

      Pages 113-122

   3. Quotation and Self-Reference

      • Raymond M. Smullyan

      Pages 123-144

   4. Unstable Solutions to the Liar Paradox

      • Graham Priest

      Pages 145-175

5. Specific Relations

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 177-177

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   2. Causation and Self-Reference

      • W. D. Hart

      Pages 179-192

   3. Is Determinism Self-Refuting?

      • Joseph M. Boyle Jr.

      Pages 193-208

   4. The Equivocation Defense of Cognitive Relativism

      • Olaf Tollefsen

      Pages 209-217

   5. The Role of Retortion in the Cognitional Analyses of Lonergan and Polanyi

      • Martin X. Moleski

      Pages 218-238

   6. Reflexivity and the Decentered Self in Tristram Shandy

      • James E. Swearingen

      Pages 239-256

6. Bibliography

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 257-257

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Self-reference, although a topic studied by some philosophers and known to a number of other disciplines, has received comparatively little explicit attention. For the most part the focus of studies of self-reference has been on its logical and linguistic aspects, with perhaps disproportionate emphasis placed on the reflexive paradoxes. The eight-volume Macmillan Encyclopedia of Philosophy, for example, does not contain a single entry in its index under "self-reference", and in connection with "reflexivity" mentions only "relations", "classes", and "sets". Yet, in this volume, the introductory essay identifies some 75 varieties and occurrences of self-reference in a wide range of disciplines, and the bibliography contains more than 1,200 citations to English language works about reflexivity. The contributed papers investigate a number of forms and applications of self-reference, and examine some of the challenges posed by its difficult temperament. The editors hope that readers of this volume will gain a richer sense of the sti11largely unexplored frontiers of reflexivity, and of the indispensability of reflexive concepts and methods to foundational inquiries in philosophy, logic, language, and into the freedom, personality and intelligence of persons.

• determinism
• encyclopedia of philosophy
• freedom
• logic
• philosophy

• Earlham College, USA

  Peter Suber

Policies and ethics