TY - JOUR
T1 - The subjectivity of self and its ontology
T2 - From the world–brain relation to the point of view in the world
AU - Northoff, Georg
AU - Smith, David
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: this project is supported by funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Framework Program for Research and Innovation under the Specific Grant Agreement No. 785907 (Human Brain Project SGA2). GN is grateful for funding provided by UMRF, uOBMRI, CIHR and PSI. We are also grateful to CIHR, NSERC, and SSHRC for supporting our tri-council grant from the Canada–UK Artificial Intelligence (AI) Initiative “The self as agent–environment nexus: crossing disciplinary boundaries to help human selves and anticipate artificial selves” (ES/T01279X/1) (together with Karl J. Friston from the UK).
Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2022.
PY - 2022
Y1 - 2022
N2 - The search for the subjective nature of our self is intensely debated in philosophy and neuroscience. However, despite all progress, the subjectivity of self and how it fits into the seemingly objective world remains elusive. Drawing on recent empirical data, we show how the self is shaped by the brain’s scale-free activity, that is, long-range temporal correlation (LRTC) and the world’s ecological context. We assume that the scale-free LRTC of the world–brain relation provides the ontological basis for the point of view as the foundation of subjectivity within the world. We conclude that the temporal, that is, scale-free based point of view through the world–brain relation provides the ontologically necessary a posteriori condition for the subjectivity of self on a deeper neuro-ecological level. This extends phenomenological concepts like subjectivity and world beyond both Heidegger’s fundamental ontology and Sartre’s phenomenological ontology: it complements their subjectivity-based ontologies with a truly world-based ontology.
AB - The search for the subjective nature of our self is intensely debated in philosophy and neuroscience. However, despite all progress, the subjectivity of self and how it fits into the seemingly objective world remains elusive. Drawing on recent empirical data, we show how the self is shaped by the brain’s scale-free activity, that is, long-range temporal correlation (LRTC) and the world’s ecological context. We assume that the scale-free LRTC of the world–brain relation provides the ontological basis for the point of view as the foundation of subjectivity within the world. We conclude that the temporal, that is, scale-free based point of view through the world–brain relation provides the ontologically necessary a posteriori condition for the subjectivity of self on a deeper neuro-ecological level. This extends phenomenological concepts like subjectivity and world beyond both Heidegger’s fundamental ontology and Sartre’s phenomenological ontology: it complements their subjectivity-based ontologies with a truly world-based ontology.
KW - Heidegger
KW - point of view
KW - scale-free activity of the brain
KW - self
KW - subjectivity
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U2 - 10.1177/09593543221080120
DO - 10.1177/09593543221080120
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85125950825
SN - 0959-3543
VL - 33
SP - 485
EP - 514
JO - Theory and Psychology
JF - Theory and Psychology
IS - 4
ER -