From Bergsonian Memory to Dynamic Reflexivity: Subjective Continuity and the Emergence of Selfhood in Contemporary Consciousness Theories

Abstract

This study investigates the problem of subjective continuity through a comparative analysis of three complementary perspectives: the Bergsonian conception of memory as revisited by Orlander, Antonio Damasio’s neurobiological theory of the self, and a dynamic model of conscious reflexivity grounded in the interaction between memory, self-representation, and feedback processes. While Bergson emphasizes lived duration as the basis of experiential unity and Damasio explains the emergence of selfhood through bodily and neural mechanisms, the reflexive model proposes an explicit mechanism linking subjective continuity and self-reference. Within this framework, the sense of identity is understood as an emergent property arising from the dynamic stabilization of a reflexive loop integrating present conscious states with their mnemonic representations. The study argues that these approaches should be regarded not as competing theories but as complementary explanatory levels of self-consciousness. It further suggests that dynamic reflexivity may provide a conceptual bridge between phenomenology, contemporary neuroscience, and emerging research on artificial cognition and artificial consciousness.