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
concerned