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qualitative identity
When two things share the same properties; stuffed animals are exactly the same but there's two
numerical identity
one and the same thing; different size, shape, etc but still the same person
Person vs. Human Being
Clarification of the distinction between an individual and a member of the species.
self, organism
A person is the _____, a human being is an ________
Descartes's Soul Theory
Concept proposed by Descartes regarding the existence of the soul.
one person ←→ one soul
Locke's Objections: Soul Flow, Castor and Pollux, Nestor
Challenges raised by Locke including issues related to soul transfer and identity.
soul flow
A stream of different souls flows through the same body, giving rise to the appearance of a continuous personality.
Suppose Al wakes up with one soul on Monday
Then he wakes up on Tuesday with a different soul
Al has a different soul on Wednesday
All these are (states of) one person. But they have different souls
castor and pollux
Pollux is sleeping (no soul) and Castor is awake with the soul
Then they switch
Two people but there's only one soul
nestor
Way back in ancient Troy, Nestor has his soul
Then he dies and the soul lives until it inhabits a new body
Soul inhabits Taylor Swift
Two people, but one soul
Locke
consciousness is what defines personal identity.
one person ←→ one consciousness
Continuous Consciousness
The uninterrupted flow of consciousness over time.
Memory
The faculty by which the mind stores and remembers information.
Consciousness remembers its past selves
drunkenness, amnesia
according to Locke, _________ and ________ are good excuses for not being the same person anymore
Duplication
Objection raised by Thomson regarding the duplication problem in personal identity.
Suppose that we can copy and implant consciousness between bodies
Locke admits the possibility of duplication with prince and cobbler example
No Competitors Theory
One person ←→ one consciousness that has no competitors
A competitor is a co-existing entity that "competes" for the identity of the person
Indeterminacy
"One of them is the same person, but idk which one"
potential circularity
When deciding where there are competitors, we already need to know whether there are non-identical entities
How do we know these are two things?
Which one has a claim?
So, the definition of personal identity depends on a definition of identity
And it's not clear what that is supposed to be
survival depends on irrelevancies
The scenario where brown gets his consciousness downloaded at AU and unbeknownst to him, they send it to Bama and they download it into a new body (whether brown exists in AU now or not depend on some random thing happening elsewhere)
Thomson
theory emphasizing the importance of the body in personal identity.
one person = one body
Naturalness
Thomson's idea that we care where the body goes (if you see a guy that looks like Adam Sandler, you're not gonna grill him to figure out if his consciousness is Adam Sandler's)
The Prince and the Cobbler
Locke's example of why the body theory is wrong
prince and cobbler are two different people, one day the prince's consciousness winds up in the cobbler, the cobbler is now the prince
Locke's view on the prince and cobbler scnerio
cobbler, he's lost his mind
Thomson's view on the who the new person is in Prince and Cobbler. Why does she think this?
Objection: Indeterminacy (again)
Reiteration of the objection related to uncertainty or vagueness in personal identity.
