The Self-Evidencing Agent

How the concept of self-evidencing offers a philosophical principle for understanding mind and behavior, consciousness, value, wisdom, and meaning.

What is it to be a human individual, an agent? According to Jakob Hohwy, it is to “self-evidence,” to actively seek out sensory evidence for one’s own model of oneself and the world. The Self-Evidencing Agent begins with a simple analysis of what it is for something to exist, then uses this starting point to understand how human agents perceive and make sense of the world, decide to act, and act of their own volition. The central notion of self-evidencing helps us to understand self, consciousness, as well as wisdom, meaning, and mindfulness.

Self-evidencing occurs when organisms act in the world in ways that generate evidence for their existence; they evidence their model of the world and themselves. Hohwy offers a first-principles method for philosophical inquiry, intended to provide new answers to difficult philosophical questions, while casting light on the diversity of everyday experience, as well as our attempts to live well.Contents
Preface
Figures
Chapter 1. Introduction
Chapter 2. From existence to free energy and self-evidencing
Chapter 3. Self-evidencing for active organisms
Chapter 4. Self-evidencing with precision control
Chapter 5. Accuracy and pragmatics
Chapter 6. Inference to the best decision
Chapter 7. Self-models and selves
Chapter 8. Volition, emotion, and value
Chapter 9. Self-evidencing for consciousness
Chapter 10. Wisdom and meaning
Chapter 11. Concluding remarks
Index
References
EndnotesENDORSEMENTS

“Ever since Jakob Hohwy socialized the philosophical notion of ‘self-evidencing,’ I have been waiting for this book. It is a wonderfully clear and compassionate treatment of why gathering evidence for one's existence offers a compelling and inclusive account of how we experience the world, the self, and other ‘strange things.’”
—Karl J. Friston, Professor, Queen Square Institute of Neurology, University College London

“Jakob Hohwy’s much anticipated new book delivers on all fronts. A masterful examination of what it means to be an ‘agent’, it finds great riches in the tension between minds that are in the business of inferring the world and selves from behind a sensory veil, while being deeply embedded in bodies and worlds. Essential reading for anyone interested why they are the way they are.”
—Anil Seth, author of Being You: A New Science of ConsciousnessJakob Hohwy is Professor of Philosophy at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. He is the author of The Predictive Mind.