The sense of self has multiple components. To begin with, there is the ability to recognize one’s own face and body and to know what those body parts are doing at any given moment. There is also the sense of ownership—you perceive your body as belonging to you—and the sense of agency: you feel responsible for your own movements and actions. And at the highest level, there is the awareness of one’s own emotions and the ability to link disparate life experiences to a stable self-image.

Brain malfunctions can disrupt any of these processes. We have seen how depression and mania can derail a stable self-image, but other aspects of self are equally vulnerable. There are people, for example, who function pretty much normally except that they do not recognize themselves in a mirror. Others have trouble tracking the movements of their bodies. Some may even disown one of their limbs [see “Amputee Envy,” by Sabine Mueller; Scientific American Mind, December 2007/January 2008].

This article was originally published with the title Me, Myself and I.

4 Comments

1. 1. ZoePittaki 06:02 PM 7/22/10

   One of course should bear in mind that Heraclitus also said that “over those who step into the same river ever different waters flow” (Fr.12, Arius Didymus ap. Eusebium P.E xv). Couldn’t this mean that the various dicta might be interpreted differently by each person?
   To my view, the really important references are those that cover the whole of an issue, but can also be linked to each particular case. This is a trait and one of the many merits of the writing of Ioannis G. Tsatsaris. I cite below an excerpt from one of his books entitled “The Next Step of Creation – The Revelation”, that is actually relevant to the subject matter analysed here:
   “...man, if he wishes to develop as a consummated individual, will have to adapt his perceptual state to the discovery of the causes which exist in the planet’s biological system, following results which his every move creates in things. And he will look towards adapting his position and his state directing his perception to all those functions. Then, instead of the causes of various states binding him, chaining him and leading him toward nihilism, it will instead be him binding them to follow him. And that will be a sample of the correct functioning of man’s psychic and biological position on Earth. And thus it will be he who will hold the reins of the chariot and not the states always formed by the Unconscious that lead him to the binding Order of the destructive nihilism.” (Ioannis G.Tsatsaris, “The Next Step of Creation-The Revelation”, Vantage Press-New York, 2007, p.228)
   
   Zoe Pittaki, Economist / Athens
   

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2. 2. wildthing 06:29 PM 8/11/10

   How about when society gives you one self image and then takes it away abruptly and gives you another one... whose self image has the problem your image of yourself or the social image of you.. what if some people chose to form their own self image because society is overlooking a variety of crucial aspects? And ultimately who is judging the self image? How can anyone have a self image if society forces numerous images on you all the time... maybe all self images and all social images are changing all the time and maybe you are defining a compulsion as an image... or a habitual pattern...

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3. 3. ramesam 10:46 PM 8/11/10

   The ancient Indian Sages called the "ungluing" Nirvana!
   
   In Nirvana one looses the contracting and constraining identification with an individuating 'me' and becomes One with everything that is - the sense of a separate 'self' collapses. This is said to be the highest pursuit a human being can (or should) aim at.

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4. 4. Spin-oza 09:46 PM 8/12/10

   I didn't forget the Neurologist's name... i just forgot how to spell it (Gazzaniga???)... who did a lot o' reasearch on commissurotomy patients, aka "split brain", which I think bears on this issue rather directly.
   
   First of all, the narative that we maintain as "ourselves" is typically seated in the Left hemisphere, which is excellent at confabulation (i.e making up sh_t). An example would be a patient who was directed (via her left visual field) to stand, then later asked why she was standing. Since her right hemisphere processed the command and her left was not involved (sans the corpus callosum)... she would assume she had acted of her own "free will" (which is always a delusion BTW) and confabulate a rationale such as: "I wanted to make a pot of tea". ANyway, you get the gist of it.
   
   The loss of identity is always devastating, despite the goofy Nirvana remark. Why do YOU exist if the "highest pursuit" is to be a non-entity? WHile we are truly embeded in the Universe... the Natural World, we are evolved as fully determined causal agents, and true loss of self... those most fundamental boundaries of our existence, invariably leads psycho-pathology (schizophrenia... dissociative states/depersonalization... asomatognosia (failure to recognize one's own body)... major anxiety/depression, etc.)
   
   Humans, versus their primate cousins do excel at several aspects regarding mentation... and that would be the Art of Deception... and maintaining a (typically bogus) narrative of ourselves that comports with our super-sized egos!
   
   However, it should be clear that there is NO supernatural soul... somehow supervening on our physical brains, which are fact, beyond doubt, our minds... our very selves.
   
   Cheers.
   

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