title: Concepts or metacognition--what is the issue? Commentary on Stephane Savanah's "The concept possession hypothesis of self-consciousness".
abstract: The author claims that concept possession is not only necessary but also sufficient for self-consciousness, where self-consciousness is understood as the awareness of oneself as a self. Further, he links concept possession to intelligent behavior. His ultimate aim is to provide a framework for the study of self-consciousness in infants and non-human animals. I argue that the claim that all concepts are necessarily related to the self-concept remains unconvincing and suggest that what might be at issue here are not so much conceptual but rather metacognitive abilities.
authors.forename: Kristina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Musholt
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003210:Concept Formation; D003243:Consciousness; D006801:Humans