The roots of self-awareness

Authors: Anderson, Michael¹; Perlis, Donald²

Source: Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences, Volume 4, Number 3, December 2005 , pp. 297-333(37)

Publisher: Springer

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Abstract:

In this paper we provide an account of the structural underpinnings of self-awareness. We offer both an abstract, logical account – by way of suggestions for how to build a genuinely self-referring artificial agent – and a biological account, via a discussion of the role of somatoception in supporting and structuring self-awareness more generally. Central to the account is a discussion of the necessary motivational properties of self-representing mental tokens, in light of which we offer a novel definition of self-representation. We also discuss the role of such tokens in organizing self-specifying information, which leads to a naturalized restatement of the guarantee that introspective awareness is immune to error due to mis-identification of the subject.

Keywords: essential prehension; immunity to error through misidentification; self-awareness; somatoception

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11097-005-4068-0

Affiliations: 1: Email: anderson@cs.umd.edu 2: Email: perlis@cs.umd.edu

Publication date: 2005-12-01