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Full Idea
The self is an abstraction from the story of a person's life that isolates and magnifies the experiences, traits and aspirations that are assigned importance.
Gist of Idea
The self is an abstraction which magnifies important aspects of autobiography
Source
Owen Flanagan (The Problem of the Soul [2002], p.240)
Book Ref
Flanagan,Owen: 'The Problem of the Soul' [Basic Books 2003], p.240
A Reaction
Personally I am inclined to see personal identity as the central controller of brain activity, the aspect of the biological machine which keeps all the mental events focused on what matters, which is health, safety and happiness.
4006 | I can only be aware of myself as a person who changes by means of my personal history [Taylor,C] |
21050 | I can only make decisions if I see myself as part of a story [MacIntyre] |
7381 | We tell stories about ourselves, to protect, control and define who we are [Dennett] |
7382 | We spin narratives about ourselves, and the audience posits a centre of gravity for them [Dennett] |
5353 | The self is an abstraction which magnifies important aspects of autobiography [Flanagan] |
5354 | We are not born with a self; we develop a self through living [Flanagan] |