The Ego Trick (baggini, Julian) / quote 15 of 254
Minimal self and autobiographical self
Different theorists use different descriptions, but most distinguish between what is variously called a ‘minimal’, ‘core’ or ‘implicit’ self and the ‘extended’ or ‘autobiographical’ self.8 The minimal self is the most primitive kind of self-awareness. Any creature which is able to in some sense distinguish itself from the environment and other things has a minimal self. The reptilian brain has sufficient resources to enable this. However, to say that even lizards have selves is highly misleading, because this kind of awareness is almost certainly entirely in the moment. The lizard has some sense of itself at a time but not over time. Human beings, perhaps uniquely, have autobiographical selves. We have a…