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The Self is an Illusion

Thomas Metzinger

Department of Philosophy at Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz

Posted: Mar 31, 2009

Thomas Metzinger is the Director of the Philosophy Group at the Department of Philosophy at Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz. His research focuses on philosophy of mind, especially on consciousness and the nature of the self. In this lecture he develops a representationalist theory of phenomenal self-consciousness.

Being No One: Consciousness, The Phenomenal Self, and First-Person Perspective

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COMMENTS

anon • • Apr 1, 2009

So who or what is observing this illusion?

Or are you suggesting that illusions can observe themselves?

How is the claim that the self is an illusion falsifiable and therfore scientific in a proper Popperian fashion?

jhughes • Hartford, CT • Apr 1, 2009

That's kind of like asking if there is a river, and if not, what's my boat floating on. On the one hand there is a constantly changing body of water that floats boats. On the other the river is just an illusion since the water is constantly changing - it has no essential riverness. In this case if we examine the working of the mind there is no stable, discrete, continuous observer, there is just a process of observation and memory, sun by a variety of sub-systems. As to falsifiability I'll have to think about it. But since the dominant hypothesis is the idea of an observer it seems there is as much pressure to find data to find support for that hypothesis given the counter evidence suggested by Metzinger et al.

anon • • Apr 1, 2009

"there is just a process of observation and memory"

Performed by who or what? Who is doing the observing? What is recalling the memory?

I'm afraid that you are just playing word games.

You may as well claim that a fun house hall of mirrors is somehow self aware since it is constantly relfecting on itself.

Your "explanation" does nothing to bridge the explanatory gap.

My personal view on the matter is that of the new mysterians: the ind in principle can never be explained in material terms. That is not tos say that it isn't necessarily pure material, only that amaterial explainaion for "self", "qualia", "awareness" etc. will never be possible.

David • Phoenix, AZ • Nov 2, 2010

Nothing is observing. The observation is a process that occurs. The observation generally inaccurately labels what it observes and then observing itself it labels itself as "Self".

veronica • • Nov 3, 2010

"The observation is a process that occurs."

David, have you just discovered the "uncaused cause"?

CygnusX1 • Samsara • Nov 3, 2010

"To be or not to be.. that is illogical captain!"

... or is it?

Consciousness as phenomena and not merely phenomenological?

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