Identity

Qualitative and Numerical Identity

Qualitative Identity: Things are qualitatively identical if they are in the same terms of their characteristics, even though they are two distinct identities

• Ex) Iphones

Numerical Identity: Something is numerically identical if its the same object over time

• Ex) Books

Applied to the persistence of personal identity: What is it that makes a person numerically identical across different points in time?

• What is it that makes child-you, present-you, and older-you numerically identical?

Memory Theory of Personal Identity

John Locke’s memory theory: Personal identity is grounded in ones ability to remember things about ones past from first-person perspective

• Memory theory and numerical identity: What makes someone numerically identical person across different points in time is that the latter stage of a person contains first-person memories of the earlier one

• Memory theory recognizes that memories play an important role in our understanding of ourselves

• Memory theory accounts for our intuitive understanding of people with severe amnesia, dementia not being the same “person” anymore

Semantic Memory retains general context-free information about the world

• No source tag: we don’t remember when we learned the knowledge (apples are red)

Episodic memory record the specific context of events: what, when, where?

• Self-referential quality: “I remember that this happened to me” (I picked apples yesterday)

Case of R.B

He could remember particular incidents from his knowledge of his life accompanied by temporal, spatial, and self-referential knowledge

Objection against the memory theory: the problem of memory gaps

• We believe that we have done many things that we do not remember (Not knowing what we learned last week, but knowing i went to class)

Imperfections of human memory

• False memories