[Bread-Baking Typewriter] Cutting Off Legs to Find the Self

There is a man named ‘David’ here. At some point, he began to think that one of his legs was not a part of himself but an unpleasant and cumbersome object. When walking at home, he hopped only on the leg he considered normal. Eventually, he set a goal to amputate one of his legs. He tried several times. He attempted to cut off the leg using a tourniquet and packing twine but failed. The more he failed, the stronger his desire to amputate the leg became. He then sought help from a doctor to have his leg amputated.

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“People Who Lost Themselves,” written by Indian science columnist Anil Ananthaswamy, is a book that explores the self through mental illness. The philosophical approach to the self through neuroscience is intriguing. The author poses a question to readers about whether the body or the mind comes first in the formation of the self.

The book begins with a fable. A man walking along a road enters a house as night falls and lies down. Then a goblin comes in and places a corpse beside the man. Another goblin enters afterward and claims the corpse as its own. Amid their fight, the man mediates. He says that since he is destined to die anyway, the goblin who came first brought the corpse. The goblin who came later gets angry and tears off an arm. The first goblin, feeling pity for the man, tears off a part of the corpse and attaches it. This repeats until the man’s entire body is replaced by the corpse. So, who is this man? Is he still his original self, or has he become someone else because his body has changed?

Afterward, the book explores the self in the order of ‘Cotard’s syndrome (a condition where one believes they are dead)’, ‘Alzheimer’s disease (dementia)’, ‘xenomelia (a condition where one wants to amputate a part of their own body)’, ‘schizophrenia’, ‘depersonalization disorder (a condition where one feels estranged from oneself)’, ‘autism’, ‘out-of-body experiences and doppelg?ngers’, and ‘ecstatic epilepsy’. The book itself is somewhat challenging, as it alternates between scientific and philosophical terminology due to its focus on neuroscience. Additionally, the discussions about mental illness and the self can be difficult to accept.

However, if you read attentively, you will find cases that are not far from us. One example is dementia. Caregivers of dementia patients face the same difficulties. A person who used to be attentive and calm becomes verbally abusive, violent, or easily loses patience after developing dementia. The daughter of a dementia patient in this book experiences the same. The once kind father is nowhere to be found, replaced by someone who gets angry when woken up. The book argues that dementia patients lose their ‘narrative self.’ Narrative is the ability to construct the future based on past experiences. Dementia attacks the hippocampus and temporal lobes, which are responsible for constructing narratives. Patients forget who they were in the past, what experiences they had, and even lose the ability to learn for the future. Dementia patients have a body, but it is unclear whether they have a self.

Returning to David’s story, David successfully amputated his leg with the help of a doctor. However, he did not regret it at all. He laughed and enjoyed conversations with people. The dark shadow on his face disappeared. Was he simply mentally ill? Or had he finally found his true self? The author evaluates that David became whole for the first time in his life. Although he lost a part of his body, he found his self. Besides this, the book discusses fascinating cases of mental illness and profound philosophy. It will surely offer readers a new experience.

People Who Lost Themselves l Anil Ananthaswamy l The Quest l 396 pages l 19,800 KRW

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