Exploring the Foundations of the Minimal Self: A Theoretical Synthesis

The minimal self is the basic, pre-reflective sense of being a subject of experience. This thesis provides a theoretical foundation for studying the minimal self by identifying and organizing existing and potential frameworks. A scoping review categorized mechanistic theories, highlighting a trend toward predictive models and revealing definitional variations. The work then proposes a method to refine theories by using insights from psychedelic ego-dissolution and meditative non-dual awareness—both considered genuine disruptions of the minimal self. This approach helps distinguish self-related from self-specifying data and separate enabling conditions from core mechanisms in neuroimaging. Three testable hypotheses and recommendations for future experimental studies are offered.

Study at a glance

Abstract

The minimal self has been defined as the pre-reflective sense of being a subject of experience (Gallagher, 2000). This thesis aimed to lay out a theoretical foundation which enables the progression of minimal self studies by identifying, organising, and synthesising existing and potential theoretical frameworks. In the first chapter, a scoping review identified mechanistic theories of minimal selfhood and categorised them according to their conceptual approach. Notably, this study highlighted the trend towards predictive theories of minimal selfhood and elucidated its definitional and conceptual variations. The second chapter introduced a way to refine minimal self theories and hypotheses, partly based on a neuropsychological approach to psychedelics and meditation. This approach was proposed to circumvent two major challenges within the minimal self literature. One challenge is caused by a conflation between self-related and self-specifying data. Another challenge is the difficulty in distinguishing between enabling conditions and core mechanisms within neuroimaging data. These issues hinder the endeavour of identifying the minimally necessary processes which generate minimal selfhood. To address these issues, this study proposed integrating knowledge on meditative non-dual awareness and psychedelic ego-dissolution as genuine minimal self disruptions. The common, context-independent neural changes found across both cases can guide more specific data analysis and the development of meaningful hypotheses. An application demonstrated this approach and provided three testable hypotheses. Taken together, both studies raised specific recommendations for the future design of experimental studies of minimal selfhood, and implications related to minimal self theory evaluation and refinement.