Colloquium: Lucy O'Brien (University College London)

TITLE: Reflection on One’s Interpersonal Self-Consciousness

ABSTRACT: Other people can make us feel self-conscious, embarrassed, ashamed, and proud. In this talk I want to consider how to think about a subject’s reflective relation to their own interpersonal self-consciousness. A self-conscious subject is tasked with both (i) the practical management of their interpersonal self-consciousness, and (i) normative appraisals of their interpersonal self-consciousness. I will suggest that the latter concern can be thought of in the context of a general problem of rational deference. I suggest that our self-appraisals should be understood as allowing for a kind of rational opacity, and ambivalence. A subject normatively engaging with her self-conscious life, and who understands that her self-appraisals are beholden to the appraisals of others, will realise that her sense of her own value is not only up to her.