PERSONAL IDENTITY & BRAIN DEATH

Main debate in Perry’s first night?

Whether personal identity consists in having the same soul

What is Gretchen Weirob’s main objection to the soul theory?

Souls are invisible and unobservable so we can’t identity people by their souls. Therefore, if I know that you existed las week but I don’t know that your soul did, then you’re not the immaterial soul paired to you’re body.

What does Miller argue on the First night?

Personal identity = continued existence of the same immaterial soul, therefore immortality is possible

What new theory does Miller propose in the second night?

Psychological continuity theory, where identity is memory and psychological traits.

What is Weirob’s duplication objection?

If someone can be psychologically duplicated, then there could be two people who both claim to be “her”, which is impossible because it disclaims identity. Therefore, duplicates undermine psychological continuity as the biases of identity because identity cannot branch.

What problem does Weirob raise about memory?

Memories can be mistaken, fabricated, or induced, so they don’t guarantee identity. Young person can’t have older person memories example.

What distinction does Cohen introduce in the third night?

Identity vs. Survival; a person may survive psychologically without strict identity

What is Weirob’s response to Cohen distinction?

Rejects survival without identity because she only cares about HERSELF continuing, not a similar successor

What is Weirob’s ultimate view across the dialogue?

Personal identity = the continued existence of the same living body/organism

Why does McMahan reject whole-brain death as death of the organism?

Brain dead patient can still show biological functions

According to McMahan, when does a human person dies?

A human person is the being with the capacity of consciousness, not the biological organism. Therefore, a person dies when that capacity for c is permanently lost even if the body lives on.

How does McMahan’s view about identity differs from Weirob’s?

For McMahan, the capacity for consciousness is NECESSARY for personal identity. For Weirob, the same living boy is NECESSARY for identity.