Single Idea 3797

[catalogued under 16. Persons / A. Concept of a Person / 4. Persons as Agents]

Full Idea

Control is the ultimate criterion of the self: I am the sum total of the parts I control directly.

Gist of Idea

I am the sum total of what I directly control

Source

Daniel C. Dennett (Elbow Room: varieties of free will [1984], §4.2)

Book Reference

Dennett,Daniel C.: 'Elbow Room - Free will worth wanting' [MIT 1999], p.82


A Reaction

This looks awfully like a flagrant self-contradiction, and I think it is. It seems pretty obvious that there is at least a distinction between the bit or bits that do the controlling, and the bits that get controlled.