Nov 6, 2025 04:21 PM
“One of the most misleading representational techniques in our language is the use of the word ‘I,’ particularly when it is used in representing immediate experience, as in ‘I can see that red patch.’ It would be instructive to replace this way of speaking by another in which immediate experience would be represented without using the personal pronoun; for then we’d be able to see that the previous representation wasn’t essential to the facts. Not that the representation would be in any sense more correct than the old one, but it would serve to show clearly what was logically essential in the representation.”---Ludwig Wittgenstein, Philosophical Remarks, pg. 88
"One short and simple evidence that ‘I’ is a misleading representational technique: we use the word ‘I’ to conflate countless different meanings. When one says, “I am hungry,” they use ‘I’ to refer to a body which physically requires food. When one says, “I was sad,” they refer to a previous state of mind that their former self possessed. When one says, “I feel happy,” they refer to the state of mind that their current self possesses. When one says, “I should be more kind,” they refer to both the current self and their future self, saying that both of these identities should change their actions to be more kind. So what does ‘I’ mean? Is it your body? Your current self? Your past self? Your future self? Your general identity? Using the misleading word ‘I’ allows you to escape all these questions."---Jeremy Hadfield
In truth we never have any immediate experience of the I. It is only posited in how we speak and frame our thoughts and actions in the world. It is an example of a useful fiction, retained not because it is real but because it reinforces a certain working model of our experience. In reality it is just a bogus add-on to what we are trying to describe and communicate. Like the usually not required return address up in the corner of all our mailed letters. A tag of ownership on all the things we say and do. Ofcourse what we are saying or writing is ours, else why would we be saying it?
The problem though with taking this "I-ness" too literally, as anything more than the arrow of "You are here" on our map of reality, is that it leads to all sorts of questionable beliefs about identity and moral absolutes and even mental health. We fall for a sort of socially constructed narrative of being just a self-same character in the drama of life. Just one among 8 billion protagonists in the Darwinian struggle to exist. That your whole purpose in life is just to drive this epic plot line. It is not. Everything in your life happens just for you already. There is no need to claim it or possess it or label ourselves with it. Play the roles you need to. But don't take them literally. Because in the end there is no "I".
"One short and simple evidence that ‘I’ is a misleading representational technique: we use the word ‘I’ to conflate countless different meanings. When one says, “I am hungry,” they use ‘I’ to refer to a body which physically requires food. When one says, “I was sad,” they refer to a previous state of mind that their former self possessed. When one says, “I feel happy,” they refer to the state of mind that their current self possesses. When one says, “I should be more kind,” they refer to both the current self and their future self, saying that both of these identities should change their actions to be more kind. So what does ‘I’ mean? Is it your body? Your current self? Your past self? Your future self? Your general identity? Using the misleading word ‘I’ allows you to escape all these questions."---Jeremy Hadfield
In truth we never have any immediate experience of the I. It is only posited in how we speak and frame our thoughts and actions in the world. It is an example of a useful fiction, retained not because it is real but because it reinforces a certain working model of our experience. In reality it is just a bogus add-on to what we are trying to describe and communicate. Like the usually not required return address up in the corner of all our mailed letters. A tag of ownership on all the things we say and do. Ofcourse what we are saying or writing is ours, else why would we be saying it?
The problem though with taking this "I-ness" too literally, as anything more than the arrow of "You are here" on our map of reality, is that it leads to all sorts of questionable beliefs about identity and moral absolutes and even mental health. We fall for a sort of socially constructed narrative of being just a self-same character in the drama of life. Just one among 8 billion protagonists in the Darwinian struggle to exist. That your whole purpose in life is just to drive this epic plot line. It is not. Everything in your life happens just for you already. There is no need to claim it or possess it or label ourselves with it. Play the roles you need to. But don't take them literally. Because in the end there is no "I".