---
abstract: "What is a self? I will try to answer this question by developing an analogy with something much simpler, something which is nowhere near as puzzling as a self, but has some properties in common with selves. What I have in mind is the center of gravity of an object. This is a well-behaved concept in Newtonian physics. But a center of gravity is not an atom or a subatomic particle or any other physical item in the world. It has no mass; it has no color; it has no physical properties at all, except for spatio-temporal location. It is a fine example of what Hans Reichenbach would call an abstractum. It is a purely abstract object. It is, if you like , a theorist's fiction. It is not one of the real things in the universe in addition to the atoms. But it is a fiction that has nicely defined, well delineated and well behaved role within physics."
altloc:
  - http://www.tufts.edu/as/cogstud/papers/selfctr.htm
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creators_name:
  - family: Dennett
    given: Daniel C
    honourific: ''
    lineage: ''
date: 1992
date_type: published
datestamp: 1998-04-14
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dir: disk0/00/00/02/66
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editors_name:
  - family: Kessel
    given: F.
    honourific: ''
    lineage: ''
  - family: Cole
    given: P.
    honourific: ''
    lineage: ''
  - family: Johnson
    given: D.
    honourific: ''
    lineage: ''
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eprintid: 266
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lastmod: 2011-03-11 08:53:47
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publication: 'Self and Consciousness: Multiple Perspectives'
publisher: 'Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum'
refereed: TRUE
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rev_number: 8
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status_changed: 2007-09-12 16:26:12
subjects:
  - phil-logic
  - phil-mind
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title: The Self as a Center of Narrative Gravity
type: bookchapter
userid: 38
volume: ~
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