I would like to express my foremost gratitude to Dr David Morgans of the University of Wales-Trinity Saint David for his insightful comments and consistent challenging of earlier drafts of this work. Without his help this project would not have been possible. During the course of this undertaking I had the extreme pleasure of presenting at two conferences organized by Dr Andrea Altobrando at Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan, and one hosted by the Buddhist Studies department at Dongguk University, Seoul, South Korea. My debt to Dr Altobrando, Dongguk University, and the many fine participants at each must be articulated as well. At all three events my thinking grew immensely; and the questions from the audience in Seoul were particularly thought provoking. Many thanks are also in order to my editor Francesc Forn i Argimon, to Jennifer Pavelko, Bram Oudenampsen, and the whole of Brill’s philosophy and cognitive studies teams for their interest and efforts at securing this work a slot in the world’s collective library. I would also like to humbly recognize the support my wife has given me through the long years that went into this book. Your patience and steadfastness are astonishing. Finally, my love and warmth to my two beautiful daughters, both of you are the light and joy of my life.
Sections of this work have appeared in different form as papers or parts of papers in the following academic journals; all copyrights to these versions are held by the author:
- − ‘Time and lived time, time and the self’, Bulletin of the University of Kochi, 68 (2019), 1–19;
- − ‘Talking about consciousness’, Bulletin of the University of Kochi, 67 (2018), 1–11;
- − ‘Enlightening your laptop: machine selves and a “real” Buddhist self?’, Journal of the Korean Association for Buddhist Studies, Special Issue: encounter of Buddhism & the 4th Industrial Revolution, (2017), 504–537 (Korean translation 539–569);
- − ‘Dreaming of AI lovers’, Philosophy in the Contemporary World, 24:1 (2017), 15–28;
- − ‘How realist was Hume’s self?: a critique of Kristjánsson on Hume’, Bulletin of the University of Kochi, 66 (2017), 67–77;
- − ‘A realist self?’, Journal of Applied Ethics and Philosophy, 7 (2015), 24–33.