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The paper examines the contradictions inherent in Metzinger's self-model theory, focusing on the metalogical identity it relies on.

January 20, 2026Open Access

The Illusory Lock: Metzinger's Phenomenal Self-Model and the Metalogical Identity It Cannot Simulate

Key Points

The paper examines the contradictions inherent in Metzinger's self-model theory, focusing on the metalogical identity it relies on.
Analysis of Metzinger's works, particularly 'Being No One' and 'The Ego Tunnel'.
Development of three theorems highlighting reliance on identity constructs.
Exploration of the notion of Ur-Matrix as a solution to identified paradoxes.
Identified a paradox where eliminativism relies on a modal identity lock.
Demonstrated the need for systemic unity to generate illusory experiences.
Reframed self-models as emanations from a fundamental source, resolving the trilemma.

Abstract

Thomas Metzinger's "Being No One" and "The Ego Tunnel" declare the self a transparent, illusory phenomenal self-model (PSM): no one is home, just a brain-generated simulation we look through naively. This paper reveals the deep paradox: even this radical eliminativism presupposes the Primordial Identity Lock — the unnegatable metalogical unity (A=A) enabling transparency, stable reference, and coherent simulation itself. Three theorems expose the threefold reliance: (1) on a referential Lock for distinguishing model from content, (2) on systemic unity for generating the illusion, and (3) on performative authorial stability for articulating the theory. Metzinger simulates the Lock as illusion — yet the simulation enacts its indivisible reality. The Ur-Matrix resolves the trilemma by reframing illusory models as dependent emanations from radiant, primordial source.

The Illusory Lock: Metzinger's Phenomenal Self-Model and the Metalogical Identity It Cannot Simulate

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