Inquiring into the 'I' is a pursuit of a ghost that never manifests in the light of objective observation. From the first-person perspective, the 'I' is never seen; it is only ever articulated. We do not encounter our subjectivity; we merely hear ourselves declare it.

Why, then, do we seek to 'know' a subject that we only experience through the echo of our own voice? What do we strive to understand in a 'substance' that reveals itself but in the act of its own articulation and exists only as a recurring linguistic act? What is the nature of this peculiar wonder? Where are its roots truly anchored?

Far from being marginal concerns, these questions arguably hold primacy over all other philosophical investigations into the mental realm.

We proceed.