Vertiginous question

Benj Hellie's vertiginous question asks why, of all the subjects of experience out there, this one—the one corresponding to the human being referred to as Benj Hellie—is the one whose experiences are live? (The reader is supposed to substitute their own case for Hellie's.)

A simple response is that this question reduces to "Why are Hellie's experiences live from Hellie's perspective," which is trivial to answer. However Hellie argues, through a parable, that this response leaves something out. His parable describes two situations, one reflecting a broad global constellation view of the world and everyone's phenomenal features, and one describing an embedded view from the perspective of a single subject. The former seems to align better with the simple response above, but the latter seems a better description of consciousness.

Hellie's argument is closely related to Caspar Hare's theories of egocentric presentism and perspectival realism, of which several other philosophers have written reviews. Similar questions are also asked repeatedly by J. J. Valberg in justifying his horizonal view of the self.

See also

• Binding problem
• Centered world
• Further facts
• Indexicality
• Metaphysical subjectivism
• Personal horizon
• Personal identity
• Open individualism
• Subjective idealism
• Subjectivity and objectivity (philosophy)
• Solipsism

References

External links

• Hellie, Benj. Against egalitarianism. Preprint of article in Analysis (2013).
• Benj Hellie's page at the University of Toronto.