[Research] Petit-mal seizures and the self

[kmorgand]

Hey folks, I'm a philosophy student starting my senior year at college and am hoping for some help with my thesis. My topic is "Petit-mal Epilepsy and the Self: Empiricism vs. Rationalsim". Basically, am I still myself while having an absence seizure, if my ties to the physical world are removed or dimmed?

If anyone is interested in this, I'm looking for folks to interview for it. The discussion will only be as deep and philosophy-related as you want it to be, as I'm primarily interested in hearing about others' experiences with petit-mal seizures. If you want to get further into the philosophy of the issue, I'm happy with that, too!

Let me know if you're interested, and we can figure out an interview! (You're welcome to post here, too, but I can't technically use it in my paper unless it's a one-on-one interview. It doesn't even need to be face-to-face: IM, skype, phone, facebook, etc. are fine, too.)

Thanks so much!

Cheers,
Kmorgand

[Nakamova]

Hi kmorgand, welcome to CWE!

I don't get absence seizures (petit-mals) myself, but I would vote for you still being "yourself" during one. In some ways I think we have many selves, including the ones that exist when we aren't fully conscious of external realities. An interesting tangential line of thought can be found in "My Stroke of Insight" by Jill Bolte Taylor. Below is a link to her [very interesting] TED lecture:
http://www.ted.com/talks/jill_bolte_...f_insight.html

Best,
Nakamova

[kmorgand]

I have actually seen her talk! I'd forgotten about it, though, so thank you; I can probably use that as a related example. I started reading her book at one point, too, so I'll try to track that down again.