Notes on Personal Identity and the Concept of a Person

Philosophical Approaches to Personal Identity

• Philosophers examine personal identity from two main perspectives:
• Ethics and Political Philosophy: Often seen as primitive and taken for granted.
  • Provides context for discussions on rights, personhood, and moral responsibility.
• Epistemology and Metaphysics: All encompassing inquiry into the nature of persons as knowers and agents that must include considerations of existence and consciousness.

Key Concepts and Historical Context

• The identity of the knower over time is crucial for empirical knowledge and moral responsibility.
• Review begins with John Locke's theories on personal identity as articulated in his work, Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1694).
• Identity is defined through continuity of consciousness linked by memory:
  • "As far as this consciousness can be extended backwards to any past action or thought, so far reaches the identity of that person."
• Distinguishes between:
  • Identity of Person: Based on continuity of consciousness.
  • Identity of Soul: Spiritual substance versus bodily identity.
• Locke's thought experiment: A prince’s soul entering a cobbler's body—if he retains consciousness and memories, he is the same person, accountable for former actions.

Influence of Empiricism on Identity Theories

• Later theorists such as H.P. Grice and David Hume built upon or critiqued Lockean concepts of memory.
• Grice adapts Locke’s views to create the idea of Grice sets, linking the experiences through time without a single ego.
  • Suggests we identify continuity of experience through memories rather than a single entity.
  • Addresses and counters Reid’s paradox of the brave officer by allowing indirect memory links as a basis for identity across time.

Shoemaker’s Contribution to Identity

• In Self-Knowledge and Self-Identity (1963), Sydney Shoemaker critiques traditional views on self-knowledge and identity.
• Asserts problems about self-knowledge mislead theories about identity.
  • First-person experiences differ profoundly from third-person observations; one doesn’t see oneself as an object but asserts identity through knowledge without the need for a physical criterion.
• Shoemaker promotes bodily identity over memory as the fundamental criterion for personal identity but acknowledges memory plays a role.
  • Introduces the Brownson case:
  • A scenario where body and brain swaps raise questions about identity—in terms of remembering and connections beyond mere physiological identity.
  • Suggests that saying Brownson is Brown might not be a logical error under certain criteria, prompting deeper reflection on identity.

Memory vs. Bodily Identity

• Memory, as a criterion of identity, is critiqued through Bernard Williams' reduplication argument:
• Two people with accurate memories of the same past can’t both possess singular identity as that would imply they are Guy Fawkes.
• David Wiggins attempts to reconcile concepts of bodily continuity and memory.
• Proposes that both concepts can coincide when understood through spatio-temporal continuity, countering some challenges posed by Williams’ argument.

Contemporary Discussions of Identity

• Philosophers like Derek Parfit advocate for a view where psychological continuity, not strict identity, constitutes the essence of survival and responsibility.
• The discussions illuminate how our understanding of identity impacts ethical considerations regarding future selves and obligations.
• Roderick Chisholm promotes views that identity cannot solely depend on convention or narratives and urges an examination of the possible ambiguity in identity concepts.

Conclusion

• Personal identity remains a complex and debated subject spanning from historical philosophical thought through to contemporary considerations, underscoring the intertwining of ethics, memory, and consciousness.
• Understanding these dynamics is integral to addressing ethical implications related to responsibility, rights, and the nature of self in a broader metaphysical context.