module

Undergraduate Module Descriptor

PHL3038: The Self

This module descriptor refers to the 2023/4 academic year.

Overview

This module is an interdisciplinary investigation of the self. It will critically examine various models of the self (e.g., the cognitive self, the embodied self, the minimal self, the narrative self, the social self, the ecological self, etc.) found in multiple disciplines, including philosophy (both phenomenology and analytical philosophy of mind), cognitive and neuroscience, psychiatry, and meditation-based approaches (e.g., Buddhism). Questions we will explore include: Why is the self philosophically interesting? What is the nature of the self? Does the self really exist? If not, why is the sense of self so persistent? What is the relation between consciousness and self? Body and self? Self and other? What sort of knowledge can we attain about the self, and is it reliable? What can different pathologies and anomalous forms of selfexperience (e.g., schizophrenia, severe depression, Moebius Syndrome) teach us about the self?