De Se Modal Illusions

Our theories of the self often rely on first-person modal judgments. We typically assess such judgments by imagining corresponding scenarios from the first-person perspective. In this paper I argue that basing first-person modal judgments on first-person imagination is problematic. I give an account of first-person imagination that explains why it gives rise to first-person modal seemings without postulating corresponding possibilities involving the subject. I use this account of first-person imagination to develop a theory of first-person modal illusions. I further show that some of the modal seemings generated by first-person imagination are indeed illusory. Finally, I use the theory of first-person modal illusions to undercut the motivation behind a central theory of personal ontology, Dualism, and a central theory of personal persistence, Lockeanism.