Tutorial 1: Blanke and Metzinger

Monday, July 2 2012 9:15 - 12:30 @ Old Ship Hotel

Tutorial 1: "Towards a comprehensive theory of subjectivity and selfhood: Philosophy, cognitive science, neurology, and neuroimaging"

Olaf Blanke (Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Switzerland)
Thomas Metzinger (Johanes Gutenberg University, Mainz, Germany)

SUMMARY:

Subjectivity is at the heart of current theories of consciousness, in neuroscience as well as in philosophy of mind: What is a conscious self? What are the earliest origins of the first-person perspective, and what exactly makes phenomenal experience a subjective phenomenon? In the past, many different aspects of self-consciousness have been categorized and these aspects have been continuously refined and expanded, including many different sensory, emotional or cognitive layers. This has led to an excess of definitions, in the absence of a widely accepted model of self-consciousness that is based on empirical neurobiological data.

Recent theories converge on the relevance of bodily self-consciousness, i.e., the non-conceptual representation and processing of body-related information (multisensory and sensorimotor), leading to the activation of a phenomenal self-model (PSM). This tutorial introduces concepts and latest experimental findings from philosophy of mind and cognitive neuroscience on bodily self-cosciousness and, in the first section, proposes conceptual foundations for a minimal notion of phenomenal selfhood (MPS): self-location, first-person perspective, and self-identification. We will then present neurological data concerning the breakdown of bodily self-consciousness and their neuroanatomical mechanisms. Next we will discuss the experimental manipulation of bodily self-consciousness using video and virtual reality technology combined with neuroimaging data (fMRI, EEG). In the third part of the tutorial we will return to philosophy of mind and target the concept of a “first-person perspective” (1PP).

The course is aimed at participants with an interdisciplinary interest, from philosophy to psychology and cognitive science, as well as neurology and cognitive neuroscience.

Tutorial Outline:

Part 1: Philosophy of Mind
Conceptual foundations for a minimal notion of phenomenal selfhood (MPS): self-location, first-person perspective, and self-identification.

Part 2: Cognitive Neurology – Illusory own body perceptions
We will then present neurological data concerning the breakdown of bodily self-consciousness and their neuroanatomical mechanisms.

Part 3: Cognitive Science and Neuroimaging
Experimental manipulation of bodily self-consciousness using video and virtual reality technology combined with neuroimaging (fMRI, EEG).

Part 4: Here we will return to philosophy of mind and target the concept of a “first-person perspective” by integrating the different theoretical concepts and empirical findings.