What is the self? Does it exist? If it does exist, what is it like? It's not clear that we even know what we're asking about when we ask these large, metaphysical questions. The idea of the self comes very naturally to us, and it seems rather important, but it's also extremely puzzling. As for the word "self"--it's been taken in so many different ways that it seems that you can mean more or less what you like by it and come up with almost any answer. Galen Strawson proposes to approach the (seeming) problem of the self by starting from the thing that makes it seem there is a problem in the first place: our experience of the self, our experience of having or being a self, a hidden, inner mental presence or locus of consciousness. He argues that we should consider the phenomenology (experience) of the self before we attempt its metaphysics (its existence and nature). And when we have considered what it's like for human beings (assuming we can generalize about ourselves), we need to consider what it might be like for other possible creatures: what's the very least that might count as experience of oneself as a self? This, he proposes, will give us a good idea of what we ought to be looking for when we go on to ask whether there is such a thing-an idea worth following wherever it leads. It leads Strawson to conclude that selves, inner subjects of experience, do indeed exist. But they bear little resemblance to traditional conceptions of the self.
Industry Reviews
Selves is a wonderfully engaging and provocative book. True, it is long, often complex, and sometimes dense and difficult, with many by-ways and detours en route to its astonishing conclusion - but it is also bold, brilliantly written, and packed full with insights, arguments and speculations. * Barry Dainton, Philosophy *
A rewardingly crunchy philosophical inquiry into whether selves exist, structured as a brilliantly engineered machine for disagreeing with. * Steven Poole, The Guardian *
Selves is full of interesting arguments and claims, and exhibits a resolute independence of mind with is extremely refreshing. * E. J. Lowe, Analysis Reviews *
Strawson... applies a masterful grasp of the subject and has given us one of the most thorough, well-argued books on the existence and nature of the self in recent years. * Phil Jenkins, Metapsychology *
This is a work of profound philosophical reflection by a philosopher of intellectual power and exemplary integrity, qualities that are liable to take you far off the beaten track. The result displays the imagination and audacity we have come to expect of Strawson. * Thomas Nagel, London Review of Books *
This brilliant and provocative book is about more than its title suggests... I found this an impressive book. throughout the level of philosophical intelligence is very high, and the discussion is historically and scientifically well-informed, and often insightful and illuminating. The phenomenological observations, for example those in the discussion of the stream of consciousness, are often very acute. The writing is often brilliant... it is a rewarding book to read, even for those, like myself, who are unpersuaded by its central claims. * Sydney Shoemaker, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews *
