Transcript The Problem of Personal Identity

The Problem of Personal
Identity
Questions About Personal Identity
• Who Am I?
• How Unified Am I?
• Do I Persist through Time?
Do We Persist through Time?:
four theories of identity
• Illusion Theory – we do not persist
through time
• If you believe that the self does persist
through time, you might subscribe to one
of the following:
• Body Theory
• Soul Theory
• Memory Theory
Illusion Theory
• There is no self that persists through time – that’s the
illusion
• We change from one moment to the next and are
constantly changing
• We all undergo persistent qualitative change
• David Hume: we cannot perceive any permanent self
• William James – our consciousness is in constant
change
• Heraclitus: no one steps in the same river twice
• Asian religions support this view
• For Buddhists there is no self
Advantages
• Live in the moment
• Don’t worry about past – stop blaming
people for their past actions
• Eliminate resentment and hate
• Stop worrying about the future
Problems for Illusion Theory
• Why do we punish people for crimes they
have committed in the past?
• Our lives are meaningful because of our
relationships with others – you would have
to understand your love for people in a
different way
• Should we plan for the future if the person
in the future is not identical to who we are
now?
Body Theory
• Often referred to as animalism
• We persist through time if we have the same
numerical body
• Even if you are brain –damaged you are still
“you”
• We are the same if our bodies maintain
functional organization (living bodies) – even if
we lose a body part, we are still the same
• Same body: same person
• DNA/fingerprinting is proof of same body
Problems for the Body Theory
• Should it include ability to think and
reason?
• Numerical and spiritual body not the same
• Will I have the same body in Heaven?
• Body switches are logically possible (John
Locke)
• What about complete amnesia?
Soul Theory
• We persist through time if we have the
same soul
• Same soul: same person
• Life after death is logically possible
• Even if body dies, the non-physical soul
continues to exist
• Religion supports the soul theory
Problems for the Soul Theory
• If souls are non-visible, how can you know for
sure it is the same person?
• Souls may disintegrate or change – how can I be
sure?
• Resurrection – if we never die, we do not need
to be resurrected
• Reincarnation – born again in another form
• Soul is separate from the body
• Plato: soul inhabits another body after the body
is no longer alive
Memory Theory
• As long as we have overlapping memories, the
same numerical person continues to persist.
• As long as my memory is around, I am around
• Sense of self connected to memory
• John Locke – “as far as this consciousness can
be extended backwards to any past action or
thought, so far reaches the identity of that
person”
• Leibniz – our sense of self is connected with our
ability to remember the past
Problems for the Memory Theory
• What if we can’t remember parts of our lives?
(inconsistency in the theory) – does that mean
we are not ourselves?
• Direct (recalled right at the moment) vs. indirect
memories (not directly able to recall but
remembered at one time – like the name of your
high school English teacher back in 1970)
• False memories (not caused by actual
experiences) vs. genuine memories (memories
of experiences that in fact happened)
Problems for Memory Theory
• Bernard Williams – there is more to us than our
memories
• Cloning – a copy is only a copy
• Is inherited memory causally possible?
• Dale Parfit – if you are cloned and then you are
killed, does your identity persist in the exact
copy of you? If you subscribe to the memory
theory, you will have survived even if the
survivor is not technically identical to you.
Some Important Questions
• If you could be cloned into a being with the same
body and memory, how could you prove that the
clone is not really you?
• How are you different from the fetus that was
once you? Explain with different identity
theories.
• What about persistent vegetative state?
• What if a criminal gets amnesia, lives a moral
life, and is then captured. Is he still guilty?
• Is it possible to make any sense of resurrection?
Further Reading
• Locke, John. An Essay Concerning
Human Understanding.
• Parfit, Derek. Reasons and Persons
• Perry, John. A Dialogue on Personal
Identity and Immortality
• Shoemaker, Sydney and Richard
Swinbourne. Personal Identity