I would say that English uses indexicals to signify and say 1P sentences (probably with several exceptions, because English). Pointing to yourself doesn’t help specify your location from the 0P point of view because it’s referencing the thing it’s trying to identify. You can just use yourself as the reference point, but that’s exactly what the 1P perspective lets you do.
I’m not sure whether I agree with Epirito or Adele here. I feel confused and unclear about this whole discussion. But I would like to try to illustrate what I think Epirito is talking about, by modifying Adele’s image to have a robot with an arm and a speaker, capable of pointing at itself and saying something like ‘this robot that is speaking and that the speaking robot is pointing to, sees red’.
“it’s referencing the thing it’s trying to identify”
I don’t understand why you think that fails.
If I point at a rock, does the direction of my finger not privilege the rock I’m pointing at above all others? Even by looking at merely possible worlds from a disembodied perspective, you can still see a man pointing to a rock and know which rock he’s talking about.
My understanding is that your 1p perspective concerns sense data, but I’m not talking about the appearance of a rock when I point at it. I’m talking about the rock itself. Even when I sense no rock I can still refer to a possible rock by saying “if there is a rock in front of me, I want you to pick it up.”
I would say that English uses indexicals to signify and say 1P sentences (probably with several exceptions, because English). Pointing to yourself doesn’t help specify your location from the 0P point of view because it’s referencing the thing it’s trying to identify. You can just use yourself as the reference point, but that’s exactly what the 1P perspective lets you do.
I’m not sure whether I agree with Epirito or Adele here. I feel confused and unclear about this whole discussion. But I would like to try to illustrate what I think Epirito is talking about, by modifying Adele’s image to have a robot with an arm and a speaker, capable of pointing at itself and saying something like ‘this robot that is speaking and that the speaking robot is pointing to, sees red’.
“it’s referencing the thing it’s trying to identify” I don’t understand why you think that fails. If I point at a rock, does the direction of my finger not privilege the rock I’m pointing at above all others? Even by looking at merely possible worlds from a disembodied perspective, you can still see a man pointing to a rock and know which rock he’s talking about. My understanding is that your 1p perspective concerns sense data, but I’m not talking about the appearance of a rock when I point at it. I’m talking about the rock itself. Even when I sense no rock I can still refer to a possible rock by saying “if there is a rock in front of me, I want you to pick it up.”