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Single Idea 16391

[filed under theme 18. Thought / A. Modes of Thought / 9. Indexical Thought ]

Full Idea

Perry's newer token-reflexive framework says indexical thoughts have token-reflexive content, that is, thoughts that are about themselves and ascribe properties to themselves. …They relate not to the subject, but to the occurrence of a thought.

Gist of Idea

Indexical thoughts are about themselves, and ascribe properties to themselves

Source

report of John Perry (Reference and Reflexivity [2001]) by François Recanati - Mental Files 18.1

Book Ref

Recanati,François: 'Mental Files' [OUP 2012], p.249


A Reaction

[There seem to be four indexical theories: this one, Recanati's, the earlier Kaplan-Perry one, and Lewis's] Is Perry thinking of second-level thoughts? 'I'm bored' has the content 'boredom' plus 'felt in here'? How does 'I'm bored' refer to 'I'm bored'?

Related Idea

Idea 16364 Indexical don't refer; only their tokens do [Recanati]


The 19 ideas with the same theme [thought which depends on a particular perspective]:

Thoughts about myself are understood one way to me, and another when communicated [Frege]
Indexical thoughts are about themselves, and ascribe properties to themselves [Perry, by Recanati]
Lewis's popular centred worlds approach gives an attitude an index of world, subject and time [Lewis, by Recanati]
Indexical thought is in relation to my self-consciousness [McGinn]
Indexicals do not figure in theories of physics, because they are not explanatory causes [McGinn]
The indexical perspective is subjective, incorrigible and constant [McGinn]
Indexical concepts are indispensable, as we need them for the power to act [McGinn]
Indexicals may not be objective, but they are a fact about the world as I see it [Chalmers]
Indexicals apply to singular thought, and mental files have essentially indexical features [Recanati]
Indexicality is closely related to singularity, exploiting our direct relations with things [Recanati]
Indexicality is not just a feature of language; examples show it also occurs in thought [Recanati]
How can we communicate indexical thoughts to people not in the right context? [Recanati]
If two people can have phenomenally identical experiences, they can't involve the self [Brogaard]
It is assumed that indexical content is needed to represent the perspective of perception [Cappelen/Dever]
Indexicality is not significantly connected to agency [Cappelen/Dever]
All information is objective, and purely indexical information is not much use [Cappelen/Dever]
If some of our thought is tied to its context, it will be hard to communicate it [Cappelen/Dever]
You don't remember your house interior just from an experienced viewpoint [Cappelen/Dever]
Our beliefs and desires are not organised around ourselves, but around the world [Cappelen/Dever]