Lecture 11

Question 1

phenomenology of the self - thought experiments

Answer 1

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

Question 2

the brain swapping alien scientist

Answer 2

if person A and person B swap brains, do the original person A and person B still exist?

Question 3

the teletransporter

Answer 3

who is the real you out of the two people copies?

Question 4

the ship of Theseus

Answer 4

if we periodically change some parts of the ship with new parts, in the end, is it still the same ship?

Question 5

the ego theory

Answer 5

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

Question 6

dualism and the ego theory

Answer 6

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?

Question 7

materialism and the ego theory

Answer 7

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

Question 8

the bundle theory

Answer 8

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

Question 9

buddhism

Answer 9

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

Question 10

david hume

Answer 10

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

Question 11

category mistake

Answer 11

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

Question 12

rejection of the bundle theory

Answer 12

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

Question 13

anomalous selves

Answer 13

another way of seeing oneself would be through anomalous cases
- split brain patients
- dissociative personality disorder

Question 14

anomalous cases

Answer 14

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

Question 15

neuroscientific model of the self

Answer 15

it says that the self exists, and it does something. two views of this model:
- Gazzaniga’s view
- MacKay’s view

Question 16

Gazzaniga’s view

Answer 16

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

Question 17

MacKay’s view

Answer 17

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

Question 18

enactivism

Answer 18

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

Question 19

embodied interactions with the world

Answer 19

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

Question 20

the self as a social construct

Answer 20

our relationship with others give rise to the self

Question 21

narrative theories of the self

Answer 21

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

Question 21

enactivism, ego theory and bundle theory

Answer 21

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

Question 22

Thomas Metzinger’s phenomenal self-model

Answer 22

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

Question 23

representations

Answer 23

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.

Question 24

the phenomenal self-model

Answer 24

our world model has ourselves as the center of it

Question 25

the self

Answer 25

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