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16. Persons / B. Nature of the Self / 7. Self and Body / b. Self as brain

[the self is primarily the brain]

2 ideas

6670	If my brain could survive on its own, I cannot be identical with my whole body [Lowe]
	Full Idea: If, as seems intuitively plausible, I could survive with my brain detached from the rest of my body, I most certainly cannot be identical with my whole body.
	From: E.J. Lowe (Introduction to the Philosophy of Mind [2000], Ch.10)
	A reaction: A key mistake is to treat the notion of 'I' as all-or-nothing. My surviving brain is much more like me than my surviving kidney, but the notion of my brain saying to my family 'it's me in that jar over there' sounds wrong. It is a bit of me.

3540	If we are brains then we never meet each other [Maslin]
	Full Idea: If I am my brain this leads to the odd result that you have never met me because you have never seen my brain.
	From: Keith T. Maslin (Introduction to the Philosophy of Mind [2001], 10.7)
	A reaction: 'Star Trek' is full of aliens who appear beautiful, and turn out to be ugly grey lumps. 'I am my face' would be just as odd, particularly if I were in a coma, or dead.