Abstract: The thesis of this book is that it is a necessary condition of self-consciousness that one is intuitively aware of oneself, qua subject, as a physical object. Intuitive awareness of oneself as a physical object involves various forms of bodily awareness in which one is presented to oneself, qua subject, as shaped, solid, and located. These forms of bodily self-awareness are required for self-consciousness because they are necessary for consciousness of one's own identity as the subject of different representations, and for consciousness of these representations as representations of an objective world. This account of self-consciousness helps undermine various forms of idealism and reductionism about the self.

Keywords: bodily awareness, intuitive awareness, objective world, representation, reductionism, self, self-consciousness