The Situated Self

J. T. Ismael's monograph is an ambitious contribution to metaphysics and the philosophy of language and mind. She tackles a philosophical question whose origin goes back to Descartes: What am I? The self is not a mere thing among things--but if so, what is it, and what is its relationship to the world? Ismael is an original and creative thinker who tries to understand our problematic concepts about the self and how they are related to our use of language in particular.

J. T. Ismael is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Arizona, and Senior Researcher at the Centre for Time at the University of Sydney. Dr. Ismael has taught at Stanford University, held fellowships from the Mellon Foundation and the National Humanities Center in North Carolina, and holds a Queen Elizabeth II research grant from the ARC.

..".an exciting read because it is a fresh and vivid challenge to dualist and physicalist views about the mind, language, and the self.... Ismael's book is not just another philosophy book--it is feminist scientific theory in the making about mind and language.... Dynamic, thought provoking, and innovative is the only way to describe J. T. Ismael's The Situated Self. It is a definite must read for those wanting to get their heads into a serious scientific theory driven work in the philosophy of mind and the philosophy of language."--Feminism and Philosophy
"How do human selves find their way into the natural order? The answer, Ismael argues, lies in a delicate (perhaps uniquely human) balancing act between emergent organization and directed, self-model involving control. Steering confidently between the ant colony and the inner theatre, Ismael leads the reader on a compelling journey to the very heart of the mind and self. Philosophically incisive, scientifically astute, endl