DEIXIS AND PERSONHOOD: A NEW PHILOSOPHICAL ACCOUNT

Abstract

This paper claims that deixis is over and above a semantico-pragmatic phenomenon, and that it should be analyzed primarily epistemologically and ontologically. Most mainstream accounts of deixis in language simply overlook this point and emphasize the fact that although deixis is more attentional and intentional, it still remains elusive for any semantic and pragmatic framework. Our paper attempts to pave the way for a treatment of deictic phenomena that is based on the notion of ‘personhood’, i.e. on the pre-reflective perception of space-time, which is, furthermore, one of the basic tenets of intersubjectivity in human cognition. This is evident as lived space is deeply intertwined with deixis, or, if one wishes so, the other way round. It seems obvious that constant shifts of personal subjectivity (dependent on contingent intersubjectivity) undermine the rationalist and empiricist standpoints about there being one monolithic percept called 'reality'.