Personal Identity Personal identity The problem concerns the
Personal Identity
Personal identity The problem concerns the concept of persons at one time and over a period of time A search for the essence of personhood – the basic necessary elements without which a person would not be
What is the problem? identity: Who am I? � Different approaches to the question: � Personal ◦ What is that stays the same through all the changes I go through? ◦ What links my present self with my past selves? ◦ How am I distinguishable from other selves? ◦ How do others identify me as me? ◦ Is it different from the way I identify myself as me?
What is the problem? identity: What am I? � Different approaches to the question: � Personal ◦ Do I have something (a soul maybe) that is not physical? ◦ If yes is it connected to my body? ◦ Is it possible that I don’t have a body – just something immaterial?
Complex and Simple Accounts � Complex account (e. g. Locke): the person is made up of a number of parts to which their identity can be reduced. The term ‘person’ stands for something that is composite and made up of more fundamental things � Simple account (Cartesian and dualist philosophy): it denies that the essence of person lies in something like properties.
Descartes � Identity must be found in whatever remains identical to itself over time � The material body is ever changing � The immaterial soul remains the same throughout time � The material body cannot be what identifies us � Conclusion: The immaterial soul is the source of our identity
Locke � Consciousness is key to identity � Identity must be found in how we identify ourself to ourself – that is the consciousness of self � I identify myself as the same self through memories of prior events � Conclusion: memory is the source of self identity
Descartes vs. Locke � Consciousness is key – it is the conscious substance – the mind – that gives us identity � Our identity is conscious, never changes and never really dies Descartes � � Consciousness is key – it’s consciousness of one’s experiences brought forward to the present moment as a memory that gives us identity with our prior self Memories are made all the time and we don’t always remember the same things – therefore our identity is fluid, discontinuous and can die (complete amnesia) Locke
Hume � If we are or have a self then it must be an object of perception � The self cannot be perceived: „For my part, when I enter most intimately into what I call myself, I always stumble on some particular perception or other, of heat or cold, love or hatred, pain or pleasure. I never can catch myself at any time without a perception and never can observe any thing but the perception” � Conclusion: we cannot claim to have or be a self „the identity […] is a fictitious one. ”
Kant � Consciousness is key to identity and the body is not part of personal identity � Kant disagrees with Descartes: the soul cannot be proven, therefore cannot be used to posit identity � Kant disagrees with Locke and Hume – for him the self is not something we have but something we do
Kant � There are two senses of identity: ◦ Empirical ego: how others identify us (what we look like, how we sound, etc. ) - this is the self that makes us an individual ◦ Transcendental ego: how we identify ourselves – an activity of consciousness (constant updating and organization of individual experiences)
2 puzzling cases Wanda/Schwanda � Wanda is hit by a steamroller – her body is destroyed but her brain and memories are intact � You have a massive stroke, leaving your body intact but your brain fatally destroyed � Wanda’s memories are implanted into your body � Who is Schwanda? Dememorizer/rememori zer � Tomorrow at 4: 57 pm you will be dememorized � At 4: 58 pm someone else’s memories will be placed in your body � At 5: 00 pm your body suffers a terrible accident � Who will be in the accident?
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