- This event has passed.
Colloquium: “Reflection on One’s Interpersonal Self-Consciousness” Lucy O’Brien, University College London
Friday, May 8, 2026
4:00 – 6:00 PM
Dodd Hall 170
RSVP HERE
Join us on Friday, May 8, 2026 for a colloquium with Lucy O’Brien, University College London. The talk will take place from 4:00 – 6:00 PM in Dodd Hall, Room 170, with a reception to follow.
Reflection on One’s Interpersonal Self-Consciousness
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.
Lucy O’Brien is Richard Wollheim Professor of Philosophy at UCL. Her research interests lie in the philosophy of mind and action, with a particular focus on various forms of self-consciousness, and self-knowledge. She is writing a book on interpersonal self-consciousness following receipt of a British Academy/Leverhulme Senior Research Fellowship. She has published papers in a range of journals and collections, she is the author of Self-Knowing Agents (OUP, 2007) and co-editor, with Matthew Soteriou, of Mental Actions (OUP, 2009). She was awarded a Humboldt Forschungspreis in 2021 and was made a Fellow of the British Academy in 2024. She was co-editor, with A. W. Moore, of the journal MIND from 2015-2025. She has been Chair of the Royal Institute of Philosophy since 2020.
RSVP HERE
Join our mailing list!
Sign up for our mailing list to stay up-to-date with future UCLA Philosophy events, conferences, and colloquia!