---
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
chapter: ~
commentary: ~
commref: ~
confdates: ~
conference: ~
confloc: ~
contact_email: ~
creators_id: []
creators_name:
- family: Dennett
given: Daniel C
honourific: ''
lineage: ''
date: 1992
date_type: published
datestamp: 1998-04-14
department: ~
dir: disk0/00/00/02/66
edit_lock_since: ~
edit_lock_until: ~
edit_lock_user: ~
editors_id: []
editors_name:
- family: Kessel
given: F.
honourific: ''
lineage: ''
- family: Cole
given: P.
honourific: ''
lineage: ''
- family: Johnson
given: D.
honourific: ''
lineage: ''
eprint_status: archive
eprintid: 266
fileinfo: /style/images/fileicons/text_html.png;/266/1/selfctr.htm
full_text_status: public
importid: ~
institution: ~
isbn: ~
ispublished: pub
issn: ~
item_issues_comment: []
item_issues_count: 0
item_issues_description: []
item_issues_id: []
item_issues_reported_by: []
item_issues_resolved_by: []
item_issues_status: []
item_issues_timestamp: []
item_issues_type: []
keywords: ~
lastmod: 2011-03-11 08:53:47
latitude: ~
longitude: ~
metadata_visibility: show
note: ~
number: ~
pagerange: ~
pubdom: FALSE
publication: 'Self and Consciousness: Multiple Perspectives'
publisher: 'Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum'
refereed: TRUE
referencetext: ~
relation_type: []
relation_uri: []
reportno: ~
rev_number: 8
series: ~
source: ~
status_changed: 2007-09-12 16:26:12
subjects:
- phil-logic
- phil-mind
succeeds: ~
suggestions: ~
sword_depositor: ~
sword_slug: ~
thesistype: ~
title: The Self as a Center of Narrative Gravity
type: bookchapter
userid: 38
volume: ~