The Ego Tunnel: The Science of the Mind and the Myth of the Self

Thomas Metzinger

ISBN 10: 0465020690 / ISBN 13: 9780465020690

Published by Basic Books, 2010

About this Item

2010. Illustrated. Paperback. A radical rethinking of the nature of consciousness Num Pages: 272 pages, 10 b/w illustrations. BIC Classification: HPK. Category: (G) General (US: Trade). Dimension: 209 x 141 x 20. Weight in Grams: 308. The Science of the Mind and the Myth of the Self. 272 pages, 10 b/w illustrations. We're used to thinking of the self's relation to the world as a dyad-the inner me as opposed to the outer world. This model assumes that what we're perceiving when we experience the world is actually the world. This title proposes a simple yet radical rethinking of the nature of consciousness and a controversial exploration of what it implies. Cateogry: (G) General (US: Trade). BIC Classification: HPK. Dimension: 209 x 141 x 20. Weight: 300. . . . . . Books ship from the US and Ireland.

Seller Inventory # V9780465020690

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Ego Tunnel: The Science of the Mind and the Myth of the Self
• Publisher: Basic Books
• Publication Date: 2010
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0465020690
• ISBN 13: 9780465020690
• Binding: Soft cover
• Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

A "groundbreaking" (Booklist) investigation of the mind and consciousness that asks whether the self even exists

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 brain—an 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.

About the Author

Thomas Metzinger directs the Theoretical Philosophy Group at the Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz, Germany, and is an Adjunct Fellow at the Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Study. He is the former president of the German Cognitive Science Society and one of the founders of the Association for the Scientific Study of Consciousness. He has written and edited several books, among them The Elephant and the Blind, Being No One; Conscious Experience; and Neural Correlates of Consciousness. He lives in Germany.