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Being No One

The Self-Model Theory of Subjectivity
Series: Being No One
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( 226 ratings, 21 reviews)
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
In Being No One, Thomas Metzinger argues that the self as a thing does not exist; instead, what we call the self is a 'phenomenal self'β€”an ongoing process represented by a "transparent self-model" in conscious experience. Drawing on neuroscience, Metzinger bridges humanities and empirical sciences to dissect the emergence of subjective consciousness from natural events. Through case studies of unusual mental states and rigorous conceptual analysis, he explores how the experience of being someone is constructed and questions the foundations of our Cartesian intuitions about subjective experience.
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

Ideal for students and scholars of philosophy, psychology, neuroscience, and anyone interested in consciousness studies and the nature of the self.

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A representationalist, empirically based philosophical exploration of consciousness, the subjective experience of selfhood, and the first-person perspective.

Being No One is Kantian in its scope, intelligence and depth. Steeped in contemporary neuroscience, psychology and philosophy, the book gives the unsolved Kantian problems of inner self and outer world a new look, a new life, and a new route to solution. Metzinger's story is understandable, compelling, and, quite simply, very, very smart. -- Patricia and Paul Churchland, University of California, San Diego Thomas Metzinger is one of those courageous explorers who dare to travel beyond the borders of their familiar territory. This book is a successful and brilliant attempt to bring together what had been separated artificially, the philosophy and the neuroscience of mind. It is a must for those who believe that consciousness is a mystery and for those who think it is not. -- Wolf Singer, Max Planck Institute for Brain Research While some philosophers have resisted scientists' incursions into the philosophy of mind, Thomas Metzinger has welcomed them. In this book he employs his impressively detailed knowledge of the latest developments in cognitive neuroscience to develop an exciting new philosophical approach to consciousness for which the experience of the self is fundamental. His is a truly interdisciplinary project which has important implications for future work in both philosophy and neuroscience. -- Chris Frith, Institute of Neurology, University College London Being No One is a superb and indispensable book. Thomas Metzinger's intelligence, open-minded honesty, and knowledge combine to produce the most complete and satisfying discussion of the problem of self currently available. -- Antonio and Hanna Damasio, Professors of Neurology, University of Iowa College of Medicine Being No One is essential reading for all scholars interested in the study of the self and of its distortions. In this thought-provoking book Metzinger presents an exciting new theory of phenomenal awareness, a theory that has the merit of being firmly grounded on a vast neuroscientific and psychopathological literature, which is here synthesized and made available to a wider audience for the first time. -- Vittorio Gallese, University of Parma Being No One is a superb and indispensable book. Thomas Metzinger's intelligence, open-minded honesty, and knowledge combine to produce the most complete and satisfying discussion of the problem of self currently available. -- Antonio and Hanna Damasio, Professors of Neurology, University of Iowa College of Medicine The strength of Metzinger's book lies in his mastery of supposedly disparate fields. Being No One successfully bridges the gap between elaborate philosophical models of the self and the neural models that were elaborated in our laboratories. It is a book that has much to offer to a wide array of scholars and readers. -- Marc Jeannerod, Institut des Sciences Cognitives

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

According to Thomas Metzinger, no such things as selves exist in the world: nobody ever had or was a self. All that exists are phenomenal selves, as they appear in conscious experience. The phenomenal self, however, is not a thing but an ongoing process; it is the content of a "transparent self-model."

In Being No One, Metzinger, a German philosopher, draws strongly on neuroscientific research to present a representationalist and functional analysis of what a consciously experienced first-person perspective actually is. Building a bridge between the humanities and the empirical sciences of the mind, he develops new conceptual toolkits and metaphors; uses case studies of unusual states of mind such as agnosia, neglect, blindsight, and hallucinations; and offers new sets of multilevel constraints for the concept of consciousness.

Metzinger's central question is: How exactly does strong, consciously experienced subjectivity emerge out of objective events in the natural world?

His epistemic goal is to determine whether conscious experience, in particular the experience of being someone that results from the emergence of a phenomenal self, can be analysed on subpersonal levels of description. He also asks if and how our Cartesian intuitions that subjective experiences as such can never be reductively explained are themselves ultimately rooted in the deeper representational structure of our conscious minds.

Series: Being No One

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  • Being No One
    According to Thomas Metzinger, no such things as selves exist in the world: nobody ever had or was a self. All that exists are phenomenal selves, as they appear in conscious experience. The phenomenal self, however, is not a thing but an ongoing process; it is the content of a "transparent self-model." In Being No One, Metzinger, a German philosopher,...
    Paperback
    $14000
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks

Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

"Metzinger's interdisciplinary approach opens up a new path toward a scientific theory of consciousness and self-consciousness." - Franz Mechsner and Albert Newen, Science

"A convincing philosophical exposition and a well-structured compendium.... It is, without a doubt, a milestone of modern Philosophy of Mind." - Reiner Hedrich, Philosophy of Science

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9780262633086

Publisher: MIT Press Ltd

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 20 August 2004

Country: United States

Imprint: Bradford Books

Illustration: 14 illus.

Audience: Professional and scholarly

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 32.0mm

Width: 178.0mm

Height: 229.0mm

Weight: 1043g

Pages: 714

About the Author

Thomas Metzinger is Professor of Philosophy at the Johannes Gutenberg-Universitat Mainz, Germany. He is the editor of Neural Correlates of Consciousness (MIT Press, 2000).

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