Lecture 11 Flashcards
phenomenology of the self - thought experiments
our intuition that we are one conscious, continuous, and united self is strong. the thought experiments, just test our intuitions
the response to the experiments reveals whether you consider yourself as your body or as your soul
the brain swapping alien scientist
if person A and person B swap brains, do the original person A and person B still exist?
the teletransporter
who is the real you out of the two people copies?
the ship of Theseus
if we periodically change some parts of the ship with new parts, in the end, is it still the same ship?
the ego theory
there is a self, this is why we feel it as such. the self is an enduring entity, the author of our actions, and the subject of our experiences
two versions:
- dualism and the ego theory
- materialism and the ego theory
dualism and the ego theory
self is seen as an immaterial soul; it is intuitive to think like that of our selves. this is why many religions assume this version.
this version is problematic because the interaction problem arises: how could something immaterial be the author of our actions?
materialism and the ego theory
self is material. it could be the brain, part of the brain, or a material structure.
this version is problematic because the cells in our body are constantly renewing and at one point we arrive at the same question as for the ship of Theseus
the bundle theory
the self is an illusion. there is simply a collection of experiences but no subject who has them, it only appears as if there is a self
buddhism
first bundle theorist (buddha) who said that there is no persisting or enduring self. the term self just refers to a collection of mental states and experiences
david hume
in his view, we are just a bundle, a collection of experiences. the feeling of self arises because of our memories, and in reality, there are only changing mental states and experiences. a person is a collection of sensations, perceptions, and experiences, and nothing underlies them
category mistake
it is a category mistake to ask what the self is independently of a collection of mental states because the self is just that collection
rejection of the bundle theory
there must be something that has the experiences, the sensations, and the perceptions. our intuition tells us that there is a self, there is something that is like being the self so cannot ignore the phenomenology
the challenge for bundle theories is to find a good explanation for our phenomenology
anomalous selves
another way of seeing oneself would be through anomalous cases
- split brain patients
- dissociative personality disorder
anomalous cases
these cases put pressure on the idea of the self. they push the ego theory because it seems like there could be multiple selves, but still, there is no exact explanation to what the self is
neuroscientific model of the self
it says that the self exists, and it does something. two views of this model:
- Gazzaniga’s view
- MacKay’s view
Gazzaniga’s view
in line with the ego theory because it says that the self could be identified with a brain area, it is something material in the brain. in this case, the self is identified with the left hemisphere’s language areas because it generates explanations and interpretations of our actions. that means that the self is just a neural mechanism
MacKay’s view
makes a distinction between two levels of brain function. the first is executive function, which are brain processes that unconsciously controls things. the second is the self-controlling function, which are brain processes that determine and update criteria and priorities. this theory is also in line with the ego theory because the self identifies with the self-controlling function
enactivism
this theory states that the self emerges from the interaction with our environment. two alternatives of this interaction
- embodied interactions with the world
- the self as a social construct
embodied interactions with the world
give rise to the self. our body is the self because we can experience the world from our personal, embodied perspective. there is a continuous interaction with the world
the self as a social construct
our relationship with others give rise to the self
narrative theories of the self
in favor of the bundle theory and state that the self does not have a physical presence in the brain. the self is just seen as the center of narrative gravity, a concept which helps us explain our mental states
enactivism, ego theory and bundle theory
enactivism could be seen as an ego theory if it is committed to the existence of the self and tries to explain why do we have a unified self
enactivism could also be seen as a bundle theory if it tries to explain why experiences arise
Thomas Metzinger’s phenomenal self-model
a bundle theorist, and like such, he is concerned not with what the self is but rather with why the feeling of self arises. To this question, he answers that phenomenology arises because of how the brain represents the world. it is the result of the way we represent the world and ourselves
representations
mediate our knowledge of the world. what we know of the world is only what appears in our experience, thus we can never know what the real world is like.
the phenomenal self-model
our world model has ourselves as the center of it
the self
it turns out we can answer the question of where the sense of self comes from—from the representations our brain makes of the world. the self has an evolutionary function - even if the self is not real, the sense of self makes us do things that would benefit us in the future
