I Am A Strange Loop, By Douglas R. Hofstadter Essay

The question of the self is one that appears throughout history and has been debated in myriad ways. Many people assert their claim as the correct one, though some are content to contemplate the self for the rest of their lives rather than remain at one conclusion. Humans are their own enigma, unable to understand the complexity of themselves. It is important to have some theory of consciousness in order to understand the actions of ourselves and others, therefore it is irresponsible to consider the matter a moot point. After consideration of works describing the physical processes of the brain, it seems that there is nothing more simple or wonderful than consciousness existing within the physical brain. Moreover, the concept of self is a construct of the mind rather than something that truly exists. In Douglas R. Hofstadter’s book, I Am a Strange Loop, the idea of the self as phenomena arising from the physically existing brain is explored. As Hofstadter describes the self, â€Å"†¦for each of us, the strange loop of our unique ‘I’-ness resides inside our own brain. There is one such loop lurking inside the cranium of each normal human being.† (180) Throughout the book, Hofstadter explains that the elusiveness of the self lies in the way people conceptualize abstract ideas and how humans characterize themselves. Essentially, despite much discussion about the general ideas about the self, the truth is that the self is best described by neural functions and mathematical