The First Person

18.06 - 20.06.2025 Uni-Philosophes,

Boulevard des Philosophes 22

Room PHIL102

    Information

    The SNSF Starting Grant project 'Metaphysics We Can Believe In' is delighted to announce a three-day conference on the metaphysics and epistemology of the first person.

    Attendance is free and open to all, but registration is required. To register, please send an email Giovanni Merlo


    Speakers

    • Alexander Geddes (Oxford)
    • Marie Guillot (Essex)
    • Adrian Haddock (Leipzig)
    • Caspar Hare (MIT)
    • Maik Niemeck (Marburg)
    • Eylem Özaltun (Koç)
    • Léa Salje (Leeds)
    • Will Sharp (Geneva)
    • James Shaw (Pittsburgh)
    • Matheus Valente (Lisbon)

    Schedule

    TBA


    Organizer

    Giovanni Merlo (Geneva)


    Reading Group

    There is an informal reading group taking place this semester about the same topic and organized by Giovanni Merlo

    The idea is to discuss a mix of classical texts and contemporary papers dealing with various puzzles raised by, e.g., indexical thought, de se beliefs, self-knowledge etc. Here you can find a tentative list of possible readings: 

    • Anscombe's “The First Person'
    • Evans, G. 'Self-identification' (ch. 7 of The Varieties of Reference)
    • Haddock, A. 'I am NN”: A Reconstruction of
    • Ismael, J. 'Me, Again'
    • Johnston, M. 'The impossibility of my own death'
    • Morgan, D. 'The essential indexical research program'
    • Nelson, M. 'Time and person in thought'
    • Shoemaker, S. 'Self-reference and self-awareness'
    • ...

    If you think you might be interested in participating, please feel free to get in touch with Giovanni Merlo!

    The First meeting was this week (March 3d) and the group is meeting once a week, in Geneva.