Ethics/Philosophy Day 38-41

quiz 3/27/23

Identity

The relation a thing bears only to itself (defines what it is)

Indiscernibility of identicals

If any two things are identical they must share all the same properties.

Essential properties

Core elements needed for a thing to be the thing it is

Accidental properties

Traits that could be taken away from an object without making it a different thing.

Fungibility

The property of being interchangeable with other objects of the same kind.

Body theory

Personal identity persist over time because you remain in the same body from birth to death (material/physical)

Memory theory

Personal identity persist over time because you retain memories of yourself at different points, and each memory is connected to a past identity (non-material/ non-physical)

“The concept of the self is just an illusion”

David Hume

Identity in God

God’s image

In Adam (in state of condemnation)

In Christ

Persons

Being who are part of our moral community

Genetic criterion

Your’re a person if you have human DNA, and you are not if you don’t

Cognitive criteria

consciousness

reasoning

self-motivated activity

capacity to communicate

self-awareness

Social criterion

You’re a person whenever society recognizes you as a person, or whenever someone cares about you

Gradient theory

Personhood comes in degrees, you can have more or less of it

Reductive physicalism

The view that the world is made only of physical stuff, including us

Substance dualism

The world is made of both physical stuff and mental stuff

Internationalism

The theory that there are two entities, mind and body, each can have an effect on the other

The mind body problem

How can my body have a separate entity called a mind lurking inside of it-controlling it, and being controlled by it

Qualia

Instances of subjective, first person experience

Epipenomenalism

Physical states can give rise to mental states, but mental states can’t affect physical states

Question of the mind body problem

How can the mind act yet be dependent of the body?