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

[self is the dominant part of the brain]

2 ideas

5952	Rather than being the whole soul, maybe I am its chief part? [Plutarch]
	Full Idea: Is each of us not the soul, but the chief part of the soul, by which we think and reason and act, all the other parts of soul as well as of body being mere instruments of its power?
	From: Plutarch (74: Reply to Colotes [c.85], §1119)
	A reaction: Socrates is associated with the idea that I am my whole soul (Idea 1650). Plutarch represents an interesting development, which may lead both to the Christian 'soul' and to the Cartesian 'ego'. I think Plutarch is right, but what is the 'soul'?

7383	The psychological self is an abstraction, not a thing in the brain [Dennett]
	Full Idea: Like the biological self, the psychological or narrative self is an abstraction, not a thing in the brain.
	From: Daniel C. Dennett (Consciousness Explained [1991], 13.1)
	A reaction: Does Dennett have empirical evidence for this claim? It seems to me perfectly possible that there is a real thing called the 'self', and it is the central controller of the brain (involving propriotreptic awareness, understanding, and will).