Brain imaging technologies are increasingly used to find networks and brain regions that are specific to the functional realization of particular aspects of the self. In this paper, we aim to show how neuroscientific research and techniques could be used in the context of self-formation without treating them as representations of an inner realm. To do so, we show first how a Cartesian framework underlies the interpretation and usage of brain imaging technologies as functional evidence. To illustrate how material-technological inventions and developments can have a significant and lasting impact on views of the self, we show how this framework was influenced by another technology: the camera obscura. Subsequently, we show that brain imaging technologies challenge the idea that privileged access to the self can be obtained merely through introspection, indicating a strong discontinuity between the Cartesian and the current neuroscientific framework. Building on these insights, we reframe the self in terms of self-formation. This view neither regards the brain as an independent realizer of aspects of the self, nor assumes that self-knowledge can be obtained through introspection. From this perspective, self-formation is realized through critical self-identification: instead of offering representational knowledge of an ‘inner self,’ the potential use of brain imaging technologies within this framework lies in their capacity to offer what we call ‘extrospective knowledge’ that pragmatically can contribute to self-formation. Brain imaging technologies contribute to this process because they foreground our neurophysiology, which helps to critically integrate biological aspects into self-formation.

中文翻译：

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脑成像技术作为内省的来源：通过关键的自我识别而形成自我

脑成像技术越来越多地用于查找特定于自我特定方面的功能实现的网络和大脑区域。在本文中，我们旨在展示如何在自我形成的背景下使用神经科学研究和技术而不将它们视为内部领域的表示。为此，我们首先展示笛卡尔框架如何将脑成像技术的解释和使用作为功能证据。为了说明物质技术的发明和发展如何对自我的观点产生重大而持久的影响，我们展示了这个框架是如何受到另一种技术（相机遮盖物）的影响的。随后，我们表明，脑成像技术挑战了仅通过内省就可以获得对自身特权访问的观点，这表明笛卡尔与当前的神经科学框架之间存在强烈的不连续性。基于这些见解，我们根据自我形成来重构自我。这种观点既不认为大脑是自我的各个方面的独立实现者，也不认为可以通过内省获得自我知识。从这个角度来看，自我形成是通过批判性的自我识别来实现的：与其提供“内在自我”的表象知识，不如在此框架内使用脑成像技术，在于其提供我们所谓的“外在知识”的能力。务实可以促进自我形成。