The Bodily Self: The Sensori-Motor Roots of Pre-Reflective Self-Consciousness

Author: Legrand, Dorothée

Source: Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences, Volume 5, Number 1, March 2006 , pp. 89-118(30)

Publisher: Springer

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Abstract:

A bodily self is characterized by pre-reflective bodily self-consciousness that is “immune to error through misidentification.” To this end, the body's double involvement in consciousness is considered: it can experience objects intentionally and itself non-intentionally. Specifically, pre-reflective bodily self-consciousness, by contrast with the consciousness of the body that happens to be one's own, consists in experiencing one's body as the point of convergence of action and perception. Neither proprioception alone nor intention alone is sufficient to underlie this pre-reflective bodily self-consciousness. Rather, it is made possible thanks to a sensori-motor integration, allowing a sensitivity to the sensory consequences of one's action, through action monitoring.

Keywords: body; immunity to error through misidentification; pre-reflective consciousness; self; sensori-motricity

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11097-005-9015-6

Affiliations: 1: Email: legrand@shs.polytechnique.fr

Publication date: 2006-03-01