Abstract
Do we have to presuppose a self to account for human self-consciousness? If so, how should we characterize the self? These questions are discussed in the context of two alternatives, i.e., the no-self position held by Metzinger (2003, 2009) and the claim that the only self we have to presuppose is a narrative self (Dennett, 1992; Schechtman, 2007; Hardcastle, 2008) which is primarily an abstract entity. In contrast to these theories, I argue that we have to presuppose an embodied self, although this is not a metaphysical substance, nor an entity for which stable necessary and jointly sufficient conditions can be given. Self-consciousness results from an integration of an embodied, basic affective flow with an intentional object (the self as agent or as center of imagination or thought), where this integration remains anchored in an embodied self. This embodied self is a flexible and variable entity, which we can account for only with a pattern theory of the self (in line with Gallagher, 2013). Furthermore, I outline how this pattern theory of the self fits into the predictive coding framework, which also answers the open question whether self-representation is prior to world-representation or the other way around. The principal organization of a mechanism of building up a self-model is such that both types of representations are always activated and developed in parallel. Modeling oneself is a process which is always activated when one interacts with the world – much as a shadow is present when a person walks in the sun.
Highlights
Do we have to presuppose a self to account for human self-consciousness? If so, how should we characterize the self? These questions are discussed in the context of two alternatives, i.e., the no-self position held by Metzinger (2003, 2009) and the claim that the only self we have to presuppose is a narrative self (Dennett, 1992; Schechtman, 2007; Hardcastle, 2008) which is primarily an abstract entity
Some of these registrations are typically unconscious, and I account for the case that the integration of all these features can be realized without conscious experiences being involved, e.g., if immediate self-representations could be realized in a robot
The lack of affective flow produces the situation of an almost pure cognitive selfreference expressed by “I am dead,” while the affective flow and the conscious experience of agency, ownership and perspectivity is radically diminished. Is this a counterexample against the embodied self as the basis of self-consciousness? No, it is not, since the pattern theory can best account for the large variety of phenomena including Cotard syndrome: the registration of an affective flow is not completely missing since the person still registers some attachment to the body, it is so weak that it is evaluated as one’s own body experienced as being dead, due to a lack of bodily warmth or emotional arousal
Summary
Reviewed by: Philipp Rau, University of Sheffield, United Kingdom Cor Baerveldt, University of Alberta, Canada. By the ‘basic affective flow in a situation’ I mean the integration of all activated features in a situation which involve a registration of my own bodily or affective processes, where this can involve the registration of homeostatic features (like body temperature and breathing), sensorimotor features and affective features, as well as of bodily or affective dispositions or expressions Some of these registrations are typically unconscious (like homeostatic features), and I account for the case that the integration of all these features can be realized without conscious experiences being involved, e.g., if immediate self-representations could be realized in a robot..
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