It’s Not ‘I Think, Therefore I Am,’ It’s ‘I Pay Attention, Therefore I Am’

For many cognitive scientists these days, “the idea that there is a substantive self is passé. When cognitive scientists aim to provide an empirical account of the self, it is simply an account of our sense of self – why it is that we think we have a self. What we don’t find is an account of a self with independent powers, responsible for directing attention and resolving conflicts of will. … So what is a substantive self?” Philosopher/cognitive scientist Carolyn Dicey Jennings offers an answer.