Collective De Se Thoughts and Centered Worlds. (27th August 2013)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Liao, Shen‐yi
• Is Part Of: Ratio. Volume 27:Number 1(2014:Mar.)
• Page Start: 17
• Page End: 31
• Publication Date: 2013-08-27
• Subjects: Philosophy -- Periodicals; Analysis (Philosophy) -- Periodicals; 105
• DOI: 10.1111/rati.12025
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0034-0006

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="main"> <title>Abstract</title> <p>Two lines of investigation into the nature of mental content have proceeded in parallel until now. The first looks at thoughts that are attributable to collectives, such as bands' beliefs and teams' desires. So far, philosophers who have written on collective belief, collective intentionality, etc. have primarily focused on third‐personal attributions of thoughts to collectives. The second looks at <italic>de se</italic>, or self‐locating, thoughts, such as beliefs and desires that are essentially about oneself. So far, philosophers who have written on the <italic>de se</italic> have primarily focused on <italic>de se</italic> thoughts of individuals.</p> <p>This paper looks at where these two lines of investigations intersect: collective <italic>de se</italic> thoughts, such as bands' and teams' beliefs and desires that are essentially about themselves. There is a surprising problem at this intersection: the most prominent framework for modeling <italic>de se</italic> thoughts, the framework of centered worlds, cannot model a special class of collective <italic>de se</italic> thoughts. A brief survey of this problem's solution space shows that collective <italic>de se</italic> thoughts pose a new challenge for modeling mental content.</p> </abstract>