Strawson´s Concept of Person – A Critical Discussion

To his main work, Individuals (Strawson 1959) P.F. Strawson gave the subtitle: An Essay in Descriptive Metaphysics. "Descriptive metaphysics is content to describe the actual structure of our thought about the world� (Strawson 1959, 9). It is to be contrasted with "revisionary metaphysics", which "is concerned to produce a better structure� (Strawson 1959, 9). The general features of our conceptual structure lie submerged under the surface of language and therefore descriptive metaphysics has to go beyond the examination of the actual use of words and expose this general structure. There are categories and concepts, which in their most fundamental character, do not change at all. They are not technical concepts of special sciences, but commonplaces of the least refined thinking. It is with these concepts and categories, their interconnections and the structure they form, that the descriptive metaphysics is primarily concerne