Being Someone

My discussion will focus on what is arguable the main claim of Being No One: That no such things as selves exist in the world and that nobody ever was or had a self. In discussing to what extent Metzinger can be said to argue convincingly for this claim, I will also comment on his methodological use of pathology and briefly make some remarks vis-à-vis his understanding and criticism of phenomenology. PSYCHE: http://psyche.cs.monash.edu.au/ PSYCHE 2005: VOLUME 11 ISSUE 5 2 Being No One is a book that engages with some truly interesting questions. It is also a very long book, and it will be impossible to deal with all its suggestions and to discuss all the problems it raises in a short commentary. What I intend to do in the following is to focus on three areas. My emphasis will be on Metzinger’s main claim: no such things as selves exist in the world and nobody ever was or had a self. In discussing to what extent Metzinger can be said to argue convincingly for this claim in Being No One, I will also comment on his methodological use of pathology and briefly make some remarks vis-àvis his understanding and criticism of phenomenology.