Models of the Self

A comprehensive reader on the problem of the self as seen from the perspectives of philosophy, development psychology, robotics, cognitive neuroscience, psychopathology, semiotics, phenomenology and contemplative studies, all based around a keynote paper by Galen Strawson.

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Francis Crick, scientists of the DNA double-helix fame, put forward an "Astonishing Hypothesis" (1994) that your sense of personal identity is nothing more than the behaviour of your nerve cells and associated chemicals. This book is a discussion on the nature of the "self". It is a comprehensive reader on the problem of the self as seen from the perspectives of philosophy, development psychology, robotics, cognitive neuroscience, psychopathology, semiotics, phenomenology and contemplative studies. One chapter, by neurologist, Jonathan Cole, centers around his interviews with blind people, including Education Minister David Blunkett, on the importance of seeing faces for our sense of identity. The discussions that are presented here are all based around a keynote paper by Galen Strawson, who reviews the whole debate at the end of the book.