In search of the True Self

Abstract

The Self is an interdisciplinary topic encompassing neuroscience, psychology, philosophy and anthropology. Despite the wealth of data available on the topic, its definition remains elusive, while its meaning overlaps with terms such as consciousness, Ego and I, and so has created more confusion and redundancy rather than clarity. Its study is also endowed with deep epistemological and metaphysical implications, on which the accepted axioms, theories and the method of investigation closely depend. Eastern philosophies have faced the problem of self-knowledge for some three millennia, achieving well-founded and valuable knowledge through introspection and meditation, and their results are worth being appraised in the Western, scientific study of the Self. We propose that the Self is related to the highest level of awareness in the continuum Ego-I-Self and, given its exclusively subjective nature (likewise consciousness), it can only be comprehensively explored through a neurophenomenological approach by merging the first and third person perspectives.