Identity Is The Key To Understanding Personal Identity

John Locke says that personal identity is made possible by self-consciousness. This is true because being self –consciousness or having enough knowledge about one self, is the key to understanding personal identity. Someone should understand that he is a living organism, signified by the name ‘Human’ (Michael & John 31) . He should understand that he is a physical being, fairly recognizable to others since he is a body. Through the body, he can move, see, touch, taste and smell. The array of physical sensation available to a humans allows him to feel pain, tiredness, hunger, thirst, sickness, fear, injury, pleasure, and apprehension. The human should be aware of the other aspect of himself that is not directly visible or definable. This aspect helps him to think and feel, remember and anticipate, and to reflect and judge. This part of the human is fully aware that he can never be fully known or fully understood by himself or by others. This part also notices that though there may be some unchanging essence in the human, the human is still changing and evolving (Michael & John 40) ....