Saturday, February 11, 2006

Hey, is there anybody in there?

Who am I? Am I somebody? Am I an illusion? A collection of sub-somebodies? And, to borrow language from economics, how fungible is the sense of self after brain injury?

Science News tackles the latest in these issues here.

1 comment:

Gadfly said...

More than 15 years since I have posted this, my own thoughts are nuanced.

I think we have a semi-core semi-stable quasi-self.

This quasi-self, per Dan Dennett, does not have a "central meaner."

This quasi-self also, going beyond Dennett and per Daniel Wegner, also doesn't have a "central free willer."

It is at least somewhat fungible.