Self-defense: Deflecting Deflationary and Eliminativist Critiques of the Sense of Ownership

Authors

Shaun Gallagher, University of Memphis, University of Wollongong, Ruhr University BochumFollow

RIS ID

116490

Publication Details

Gallagher, S. (2017). Self-defense: Deflecting Deflationary and Eliminativist Critiques of the Sense of Ownership. Frontiers In Psychology, 8 1612-1-1612-10.

Additional Publication Information

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Abstract

I defend a phenomenological account of the sense of ownership as part of a minimal sense of self from those critics who propose either a deflationary or eliminativist critique. Specifically, I block the deflationary critique by showing that in fact the phenomenological account is itself a deflationary account insofar as it takes the sense of ownership to be implicit or intrinsic to experience and bodily action. I address the eliminativist view by considering empirical evidence that supports the concept of pre-reflective selfawareness, which underpins the sense of ownership. Finally, I respond to claims that phenomenology does not offer a positive account of the sense of ownership by showing the role it plays in an enactivist (action-oriented) view of embodied cognition.

Grant Number

ARC/DP170102987