Research On Zahavi’s Minimal Self Theory

Zahavi’s minimal self theory is a theory on the philosophical problem of "self" developed on the basis of contemporary philosophy of mind and phenomenology.Zahavi sets the "first-person" feeling property that exists in each conscious experience as "subjectivity",that is,"self".The pre-theoretical basis of this self-theory mainly includes the qualia theory in contemporary philosophy of mind,the discussion of concepts such as "conscious experience" and "phenomenological consciousness" in phenomenology,and the cancellation theory of "self" in modern Western philosophy debate with skepticism.The main feature of the minimal self theory,which is different from the substantive self,narrative self,social self and physicalist reductionist self theory,is that it emphasizes analyzing philosophical issues about the self from the firstperson perspective of the owner of conscious experience,emphasizing the inseparability of "self" problem and conscious activities,and intentional experience emphasizes the important position of phenomenological analysis methods in the current research on philosophy of mind.This article examines and discusses Zahavi’s theory of the minimal self.First of all,this paper discusses the background and theoretical basis of the minimal self theory,and reconstructs Zahavi’s own argument on this problem,in order to clarify Zahavi’s theoretical construction and theoretical boundaries.Secondly,starting from the two main issues about the self,that is,from the ontological dimension of the self and the dimension of the identity of the self,combined with the discussion on these two issues in the history of philosophy,this paper examines Zahavi’s minimal self theory.These two main issues are divided into two sub-problems respectively.In the discussion of these four sub-problems,this paper combines the criticism and refutation of other contemporary philosophers on the theory of minimal self,starting from the approach of Zahavi himself.Comments are made on these criticisms,and the perspectives of this article on Zahavi’s minimal self-theory on ontological and identity issues are given.Finally,on the basis of the above discussion,this paper makes an overall review and reflection on Zahavi’s minimal self theory,and attempts to explore the relationship between phenomenology and contemporary philosophy of mind.