Personal identity

Personal identity

Explores the conditions under which a person can be considered the same individual across time

Pultarch - Ship of Theseus

• Thought experiment of how much of the ship can be changed / replaced before it is a “different ship”

• what are the “essential properties”?

Criticism of the Ship of Theseus

Skin, hair, bones, limbs etc can change, does that make us different people

Pultarch - body theory

“Same body” = “same person”

Bernard Williams - “Body swap”

Thought experiment to show that our mental facilities are greater than our physical sense of self

Locke’s memory theory

• proposed a stream of consciousness and memories = self

• memories link us together over time

Criticism of Locke’s memory theory

Memory loss/early memories, old age, false memories, does that make us different ppl?

Hume’s Bundle theory

• The “self” is a “bundle” of experiences, emotions, likes/dislikes etc.

• No permanent self

Parfit - Teleportation thought experiment

• psychological connectedness

• If trauma still effects you in current day, you are still part of the past/old you