We’re used to thinking about the self as an independent entity, something that we either have or are. In
The Ego Tunnel, philosopher Thomas Metzinger claims otherwise: No such thing as a
self exists. The conscious self is the content of a model created by our brainan internal image, but one we cannot experience
as an image. Everything we experience is a virtual self in a virtual reality.”
But if the self is not real,” why and how did it evolve? How does the brain construct it? Do we still have souls, free will, personal autonomy, or moral accountability? In a time when the science of cognition is becoming as controversial as evolution, The Ego Tunnel provides a stunningly original take on the mystery of the mind.
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T H E EGO T U N N E L
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Th e
Ego Tunnel the science of the mind and the myth of the self
Thomas Metzinger
A MEMBER OF THE PERSEUS BOOKS GROUP New York
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Copyright © 2009 by Thomas Metzinger Published by Basic Books, A Member of the Perseus Books Group All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. For information, address Basic Books, 387 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10016-8810. Books published by Basic Books are available at special discounts for bulk purchases in the United States by corporations, institutions, and other organizations. For more information, please contact the Special Markets Department at the Perseus Books Group, 2300 Chestnut Street, Suite 200, Philadelphia, PA 19103, or call (800) 810-4145, ext. 5000, or e-mail
[email protected] Set in 10.75 point Warnock Pro by the Perseus Books Group Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Metzinger, Thomas, 1958The ego tunnel : the science of the mind and the myth of the self / Thomas Metzinger. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-465-04567-9 (alk. paper) 1. Consciousness. I. Title. BF311.M47 2009 126—dc22 2008044399 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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To Anja and my family
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Any theory that makes progress is bound to be initially counterintuitive.
—daniel c. dennett, The Intentional Stance (Cambridge, MA 1987, p. 6)
He [Ludwig Wittgenstein] once greeted me with the question: “Why do people say that it was natural to think that the sun went round the earth rather than that the earth turned on its axis?” I replied: “I suppose, because it looked as if the sun went round the earth.” “Well,” he asked, “what would it have looked like if it had looked as if the earth turned on its axis?”
—elizabeth anscombe, An Introduction to Wittgenstein’s Tractatus (London 1959, p. 151)
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CON TEN TS
Acknowledgments Introduction
ix
1 PART ONE
THE CONSCIOUSNESS PROBLEM 1
The Appearance of a World
2
A Tour of the Tunnel
15
25
The Unity o