Perhaps the problem that most people think of first when they think about the nature of the mind is whether the mind can survive the death of the body. Identity theory, in philosophy, one view of modern materialism that asserts that mind and matter, however capable of being logically distinguished, are in actuality but different expressions of a single reality that is material. Or would you say the film supports locke by showing how anterograde amnesia or alzheimers robs its victims of the personal identity afforded by genuine memory. The most striking passage is the following, from p. Again, despite the identity, it is informative to be told that hesperus is phosphorus, but not to be told that hesperus is hesperus on sense and reference in frege 1969. Selfhood allows a person to hold a sense of a personal narrative comprising of a sequential autobiography of his or her life experiences. Aug 21, 2017 are you the same person you were as a young child. Philosophy through film, routledge, 2002 by mary litch for further reading on personal identity in memento. The notion of identity gives rise to many philosophical problems, including the identity of indiscernibles if x and y share all their properties, are they one and the same thing.
For more, the entry in wikipedia is very good on personal identity, as is the stanford encyclopedia of philosophy and the internet encyl. It is a very welcome addition to the philosophical literature. In this wireless philosophy video, elisabeth camp rutgers university introduces the narrative view of personal identity and its major problems. Pdf personal identity and the self in the online and. The belief that questions about identity must have a true answer. The philosophy and psychology of personal identity glover, jonathan on. John locke speaks of personal identity and survival of consciousness after death. This is the question of personal identity, and it is literally a question of life and death, as the correct answer to it determines which types of changes a person can undergo without ceasing to exist. The same consciousness is required for being the same person.
Thats a difficult question to tackle, and each of us must do so for him or herself, if it is to be tackled at all. Another intuitively appealing view, championed by john locke, holds that personal identity is a matter of psychological continuity. That is, with particular reference to the last part of the definition of identity, specifying it to be. However, the philosophical discourse addresses very different meanings of the term, which should be distinguished to avoid misunderstandings, but also to sharpen the key meanings of the term in psychological contexts. Many philosophers, following locke and hume, give consciousness a central role in answering questions of personal identity.
Last time, we talked about identity or basically, what makes an object the same over time. Lockes theory is a slippery slope which will eventually totally lose the concept of personal identity 4. However, this theory is interpreted differently in three ways. All things belong to the same species have common characteristics that make them similar in some aspects although they are numerically distinct.
Philosophy of mind philosophy of mind the soul and personal identity. Strong emphasis is placed upon the empirical verification of such. Identity has been a major focus for numerous disciplines. Philosophy of mind the soul and personal identity britannica. In my personal identity i have experienced many facets within my 25 years of living in this earth. The person is identical to himself to the extent that he is aware of his own perceptions and thinking. Selfhood embraces a social identity, a moral identity, emotional identity, behavioral identity, and an ethical identity. The truest and most recognized philosophy theories about personal identity are the consciousness theory. This lesson offers essay topics that will help students. For a challenging, insightful and largely phenomenological argument for narrative identity, i would recommend looking into the philosophy of paul ricoeur.
Discussion leads to three candidates for personal identity. The philosophy and psychology of personal identity. Personal identity stanford encyclopedia of philosophy. Locke on personal identity shelley weinberg philosophy compass, vol. In my readings and research i personally coincide with authors who state that personal identity is divided by two subsets. Selfhood comprises other feelings related to selfesteem. According to locke, consciousness is an element that accompanies all. My hope for the second edition was that it would add enough contemporary philosophy to bring the anthology up to the present. They are pretty typical, and used that way in many intro college textbooks. An analysis of three theories of personal identity philosophy.
Learn vocabulary, terms, and more with flashcards, games, and other study tools. My personal approach to philosophy, expressed in vague terms, is as follows. The emergence of the biological approach as a powerful competitor to psychological views has, however, added an important dimension to the current debate on personal identity, raising fruitful questions that have been largely neglected in recent years. And the concept can get more complex when we talk about our own identity or the identity of others. Personal identity routledge encyclopedia of philosophy. Personal identity deals with philosophical questions that arise about ourselves by virtue of our being people or, as lawyers and philosophers. Your lordship goes on and says, that i grant likewise, that the identity of the same man consists in a participation of the same continued life, by constantly fleeting particles of matter in succession, vitally united to. Locke on personal identity weinberg 2011 philosophy compass. The specific identity and qualitative identity, being the same kind of being.
Transitivity states that if a bears relation i to b, and b bears i to c, then a must also bear i to c. Memory is merely a test of personal identity over time, not its essence 3. Personal identity has a long history, and so its worth going back to john locke, as perry does. This lesson explores philosophies of personal identity and digs into several key theories on this topic. Outside of philosophy, personal identity usually refers to properties to which we feel a special sense of attachment or ownership. Throughout the years there have been multiple critiques of humes theory, but despite the fact that all of these generally appear unsatisfactory, humes theory of personal identity is far from being a popular one in the field.
When talking about ships or trees, we might be willing to say yeah, ok, thats just not the same thing it used to be. The philosophy of shapeshifters, socks, and personal identity. This is the view which can be extracted from our core that is, minimally controversial set of commonsense beliefs about personal identity. The debate between biological and psychological theorists is likely to continue. Philosophical views tim v kolton alan watts once said, trying to define yourself is like trying to bite your own teeth. Personal identity, memory, and the problem of circularity.
The term identity has a much longer tradition in western philosophy than in psychology. This is the view which can be extracted from our core that is, minimally controversial set. Personal identity is the concept you develop about yourself that evolves over the course of your life. Introduces the concept of personal identity, what is it to be a person, whether someone is the same person over time and leibnizs law of sameness. John locke on personal identity pubmed central pmc.
Being a philosophy student, i can usually grasp immediately the reason, why we engage in some philosophical projects. Personal identity deals with philosophical questions that arise about ourselves by virtue of our being people or, as lawyers and philosophers like to say, persons. In this video we take a look at some of the main arguments in the. My personal identity has been developing each minute of the day,as well as days on and in years. Personal identity and the self in the online and offline world. To the contrary, the most plausible view appears to be a mixed view, according to which personal identity has to be understood in terms of both physical and psychological relations. The task of personal identity is to define a quality of a human which makes him or her a unique self. Chad is a senior lecturer in philosophy at the college of. John locke holds that personal identity is a matter of psychological continuity. Locke on personal identity philosophy cambridge core.
An introduction the syllabus asks two questions about personal identity. Giorgione was socalled because of his size, barbarelli was not, but giorgione was barbarelli quine, reference and modality, in 1963. Experimental philosophy draws on empirical data, particularly those. But after all, i still dont get, why we should care about personal identity. Since his contribution to the field of personal identity in 1738 humes theory has been debated thoroughly. What is it that links your past self to your present and future self. According to this view, in order for a person x to survive a particular adventure, it is necessary and sufficient that there exists, at a time after the adventure. This contrasts with questions about ourselves that arise by virtue of our being living things, conscious beings, material objects, or the like. Summary of the problem of personal identity reason and meaning. Theories of personal identity bibliography philpapers.
Personal identity, second edition topics in philosophy. Sep 26, 2012 the philosophical term identity is a relational term, specifically, a relation that x and y stand in, just in case they are the same thing, or identical to each other. Our focus shall be primarily on the second, and even then, we will follow just one thread of thought there are many others. If the concept of a fixed personal identity is relaxed, the concept of responsibility is fatally undermined 5. Joshua farris asks what you find when you find yourself materialists or physicalists are philosophers who believe that humans are completely physical beings, whereas dualists believe we are minds sometimes souls with bodies. Pdf stanley klein and shaun nichols describe the case of patient r. Although there are many excellent texts dealing with the metaphysics of personal identity, shoemakers personal identity and ethics is the first book i know to tackle in such an extended way the question of the relationship between personal identity and our practical concerns. To call them complex is a misnomer for each is far too narrow to properly define and explain personal identity. In philosophy, the matter of personal identity deals with such questions as, what makes it true that a person at one time is the same thing as a person at another time. Abstract lockes account of personal identity has been highly influential because of its emphasis on a psychological criterion.
After all, i would trust perry to choose contemporary articles wisely. Choose from 500 different sets of personal identity philosophy flashcards on quizlet. The possibility that it can is, of course, central to many religious doctrines, and it played an explicit role in descartess formulations of mindbody dualism, the. Personal identity in memento plato philosophy learning. A new look at personal identity issue 62 philosophy now. Identity, personal identity and the self 20th century. The range of the persons memory sets the limits of consciousness. Introduction the problems of personal identity the persistence question the population question the personalontology question the question of what matters in identity the persistence question. Metaphysical questions surrounding identity are broad and vexing. The philosophy of personal identity can be really exciting to students who are trying to figure out who they are and what they believe. Such a criterion specifies, insofar as that is possible, the necessary and sufficient conditions for the survival of persons. Personal identity university of san diego home pages.
I know he discusses elsewhere, and perhaps in more detail, but a section of time and narrative vol. Personal identity, psychological continuity and externalism. Personal identity the narrative self about transcript in this video, elisabeth camp rutgers university introduces the narrative view of personal identity and its major problems. The belief that, unless questions about identity have an answer, we cannot answer certain important questions. What does being the person that you are, from one day to the next, necessarily consist in. The philosophy of shapeshifters, socks, and personal identity how to survive compulsory college philosophy courses socrates, plato, and aristotle. Im disappointed that he opted to do very little of. Someones personal identity in this sense consists of those properties she takes to define her as a person or make her the person she is, and which distinguish her from others. This may include aspects of your life that you have no control over, such as where you grew. Personal identity internet encyclopedia of philosophy. Pdf the emergence of social networking sites has created a problem of how the self is to be understood in the online world. This may include aspects of your life that you have no control over, such as where you grew up or the color of your skin, as well as choices you make in life, such as how you spend your time and what you believe. These notions are at best incompatible and, in the fullest understanding of identity, mutually exclusive.