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WHAT is the self? One answer is that it is the diamond in the rough that is you, the unique, immutable and indestructible jewel that makes each person who they are, the being amidst the becoming, the unfluxable within the flux. Kant called it the Transcendental Ego, which stands behind experience as the condition of its possibility. An alternative view endorsed by Buddha, Heraclitus, John Locke, David Hume and William James is that the self does not exist.

Naturalists tend to agree 鈥� we each have our own and only our own experiences thanks to the way organisms are designed. The consensus among contemporary philosophers and mind scientists is that the self is a forensic concept, not a scientific one, and therefore not a member of the ontological table of elements.

Surely, though, there is the experience of psychological continuity and first person-ness that makes me feel like I have a special relationship with myself. What lies behind this selfy feeling? In The Ego Tunnel, Thomas offers this explanation: 鈥淭he phenomenal Ego is not some mysterious thing or little man inside the head but the content of an inner image鈥� By placing the self-model within the world-model, a center is created. That center is what we experience as ourselves, the Ego.鈥� Our sense of self is a virtual simulation within a larger simulation of an external reality which is larger still. This idea is cashed out in the rather forgettable metaphor of the ego tunnel. 鈥淲hat we see and hear, or what we feel and smell and taste, is only a small fraction of what actually exists out there鈥� The ongoing process of conscious experience is not so much an image of reality as a tunnel through reality.鈥� All of this is created behind the scenes by the brain. If you think you have a self, Metzinger says, it is because you are tricked by your psycho-biology, which keeps track of your states, preferences, memories and so on.

鈥淥ur sense of self is a virtual simulation within a larger simulation of an external reality which is larger still鈥�

This is pretty much the whole theory, 鈥渁 stunningly original exploration of human consciousness鈥�, according to the book jacket. Given the consensus among scientists and philosophers that there is no self, one wonders why Metzinger applauds his own view as radical (authors approve book jackets). He adds that coming to terms with the non-existence of the self is required if we are to solve the philosophical problem of consciousness. This makes it sound as if consciousness researchers are in the grip of the self illusion 鈥� they are not.

Even if there are people who still believe in the existence of a self, I doubt they believe in the dopey idea that the self is an actual homunculus, the straw man in the skull whom Metzinger relentlessly targets. More widespread than the self illusion is the view that humans have souls, but Metzinger does nothing to explain how belief in personal immortality may or may not be tied to views about the self.

The best parts of The Ego Tunnel are those where Metzinger surmises about where and how our virtual realities are created in the brain. The worst are when he makes vague yet grandiose statements, weaving metaphor upon metaphor, then decorating it with an acronym or two.

Grandiose philosophy is so 19th-century, and it is particularly unbecoming at a time when the problem of consciousness requires the efforts of many worker bees, what Locke called 鈥渦nderlabourers鈥�. There is no need for a 鈥渟tunningly original鈥� theory for now, especially one that isn鈥檛 the slightest bit original. Nothing is gained. Trees are harmed. And all for the sake of offing that little man in the mind who hasn鈥檛 been spotted since the publication of back in 1949. Pitching the idea that 鈥渨e are self-less ego machines鈥� gets Kant off Metzinger鈥檚 back, but the rest of us were already content with the notion that there is no transcendental ghost in our heads.