Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Selfhood And The Unity Of Consciousness, Kate Hanniball

Summer Research

The focus of my summer research was a philosophical investigation of the concept of selfhood incorporating an emphasis on the physical realities of the brain, in particular bi-hemispheric communication between the right and left hemispheres via the neural pathway known as the Corpus Callosum.

Working within the theoretical framework of Derek Parfit the present research explored the question of selfhood by maintaining a focus on the unity of consciousness we all associate with the singular nature of the self. The theory of conscious unity--or the idea that at any one time all our phenomenal experiences are unified by the fact …