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Locke's theory of personal identity
Mind-body connection THESIS
Mind-body connection THESIS
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Philosopher John Locke’s definition of a person is an individual with consciousness and self awareness, and the ability to remember, reason, and reflect on the past. Following Locke, memory is central to our identity as a person. Being your own person requires having your own memories, and Locke’s definition of a person captures this. Furthermore, to be the same person over a period of time, one must be able to recall their past. If you cannot do this, then you are not the same person in time 2 that you were in time 1. Susan Brison also has a theory of personhood, but her theory contradicts Locke’s by stating that personhood is not just memory; rather, it is a mix of memory and the body. I will argue that Locke’s theory of personhood is superior …show more content…
If you’re not able to consciously retrieve memories, than Locke would argue that you are not the same person now as you were when the memory-producing situation occurred because if you cannot remember the situation, you most definitely cannot reflect on it. Susan Brison’s definition of what a person is emphasizes the importance of the connection between mind and body. She states her personal experiencs with the mind-body connection: “My body was portrayed as an enemy, having betrayed my newfound trust and interest in it, and as a site of vulnerability. But rejecting the body and returning to the life of the mind was not an option, as body and mind had become nearly indistinguishable. My mental state (depression) felt physiological, like lead in my veins…”(Brison …show more content…
She now has trouble distinguishing her body from her mind because her traumatic memories have manifested themselves into depression. Subsequently, the depression has manifested itself into a bodily feeling of heaviness. It is a chain reaction in a sense. Bad memories can manifest themselves into mental health problems such as depression. The mental health problems can further manifest themselves into negative bodily sensations, such as feelings of heaviness throughout the body (as Brison mentions in the above quotation) and stomach aches. Brison focuses on how memories interact with the human body to produce the whole person, but she dismisses the power of the memories themselves in defining what it means to be a
But this would allow for three bodies to have the same identity, which cannot be the case when talking about an identity that can belong to one and only one person. Therefore, in defense of the memory theory, memory theorists like those in Perry’s work advocate for the addition of an addendum to the original theory: person A at time point A is identical to person B at time point B if and only if there is only one person at time point B who is psychologically continuous with person A. This revision eliminates the possibility of duplication examples discrediting the memory theory as a viable answer to our questions of personal
In his essay “An Essay Concerning Human Understanding” John Locke makes a connection between memory and consciousness and called this connection the memory theory. The memory theory states that if “a thinking intelligent being, that has reason and reflection, and can consider itself as itself, [and is] the same thinking thing, in different times and places” then it is continuously the same rational being has a consciousness (Locke 1959). Locke ties the consciousness and memory together by saying that “as far as … consciousness can be extended backwards to any past action or thought, so far reaches the identity of that person”; meaning that if a person has memories of their existence and actions they are the same person. Locke connects the memory
John Locke believes that A is identical with B, if and only if, A remembers the thoughts, feelings, and actions had or done by B from a first-person point of view. This shows that the important feature, memory, is linking a person from the beginning of their life to the end of their life. Locke’s memory theory would look something like this: The self changes over time, so it may seem like personal identity changes too. However, even if you are changing, you are still retaining past memories. Therefore, if you can retain memories, memories are the link between you and an earlier you, so personal identity persists over time. So, memory is the necessary and sufficient condition of personal
Locke, an indirect realist, explores our immediate perceptions and with this attempts to draw a line between ideas and qualities, just how these are different entities. Sometimes referred to as Representative Theory, according to Locke, we are aware only of our ideas, these being things existing “in our minds”, sensations created. Our perceptions are indirect and their qualities, these are the causal properties of physical objects that then cause those sensations. This dualistic account
John Locke's account of identity was a radical rethinking on the subject of personal identity. Moreover, his conception of personal identity shaped modern thought about the subject by placing the emphasis on a psychological criterion . Locke argued that there is a distinction between the human being, the person, and the soul, and that the identity of the person relies upon the continuation of the same consciousness. In other words, Locke believed that personal identity remains if the same consciousness remained. However, at the time of publication, Locke was heavily criticised by those who argued that his uses of the word 'consciousness' was too ambiguous. Some, such as Thomas Reid, interpreted Locke as equating consciousness with memory, and as a result of the fallible nature of memory, argued that Locke's account of personal identity failed .
In conclusion, John Locke’s philosophy states that the experiences that people go through can determine who they are. People go through good and bad experiences that can change who they are. In the book Frankenstein, the monster went through experiences that made him a good person; ultimately, the negative experiences outweigh the good, causing he to become a bad person. In the end, it is the experiences that count that stand out the most in a person’s life making them who they are - proving Locke’s philosophy to be
Locke first outlined his view of personal identity in Chapter XXVII of book II in ‘An Essay concerning Human Understanding’ however faced a number of criticisms. This essay will assess how convincing John Locke’s account of personal identity is, whilst analyzing Reid and Berkeley’s criticisms of his view. Locke’s psychological account of personal identity is not a persuasive one due to the inconsistencies that are highlighted by Reid and Berkeley and I will defend this view in this essay. Locke’s account of personal identity leads to a number of contradictions which he attempts to respond to, however whilst barely addressing the criticisms he faces, his responses are also unsuccessful as both Reid and Berkeley counter each response further.
Philosophers have been pondering over the problem of personal identity for centuries and today we still have not completely figured it out. The body and soul theories clearly failed to answer that, so philosopher John Locke attempted to answer the question with his new theory, the memory theory. The memory theory states that an identical persons are equal to one another if they share at least one memory experience. This means that a present person that his past self are only identical person’s if they can both recall one memory. For example, Johnny at age 30 and Johnny at age 12 both remember their big birthday party when they were seven, so they are considered to be the same person. As stated in the claim, it only applies to memory experiences,
If the book remained untouched in perpetuity, then the identity of the book would remain unchanged. But if pages were torn out of the book, Locke’s view would be that it is not the same book anymore – there ceases to be a perfect continued existence of material body (Emerson, 1997:1) Locke viewed the identity of living entities in a different light. Above, change in mass constituted a change in identity. But, in living entities a change in mass does not affect the identity of the object.
John Locke believe we have blank slates when we are born, he called it tabula rasa. John Locke idea is humans have no innate idea and that our ideas come from two sources: sensation and
I will argue that Locke believed that if you remain the same person, there are various entities contained in my body and soul composite that do not remain the same over time, or that we can conceive them changing. These entities are matter, organism (human), person (rational consciousness and memory), and the soul (immaterial thinking substance). This is a intuitive interpretation that creates many questions and problems. I will evaluate Locke's view by explaining what is and what forms personal identity, and then explaining how these changes do conceivably occur while a human remains the same person.
Locke and Hume both agree that memory is key to define personal identity. Locke believes that memory and consciousness define personal identity. While Hume’s thinks it is the source of personal identity, he does not fully agree with Locke and thinks that memory reveals personal identity, it does not create it. They both agree that there is a change; Locke understands that a person changes and what relates everything to who we are is
Locke’s does not take into account of the fact that human’s recollection of memories is limited, as time and age progresses it makes it difficult to remember or recall. Although, humans are self-aware and exhibit consciousness, not everything we have thought, rationalized or interpreted is available to us on command. This creates a problem because the complexities around the concept of consciousness require the psychological criterion as a necessary condition for this theory. The limitations placed on human memory demonstrate that the psychological link or relationship between a person at one time and at another time can be broken, which leads to new
He also states the evidence of self-identity is not one’s soul, but one’s consciousness and memories. As an illustration of his argument, as a person getting older, his self-identity may change, so his unchanging soul can not be the evidence of his self-identity. In “Personal Identity in Change of Substance” section of “On Personal Identity,” Locke states “For the same consciousness being preserved, whether in the same or different substances, the personal identity is preserved.” Therefore, in short, his view on “self” is that memories and consciousness compose self-identity, and it does not matter what a substance or a soul a possessor of the memories
...have struggled with the nature of human beings, especially with the concept of “self”. What Plato called “soul, Descartes named the “mind”, while Hume used the term “self”. This self, often visible during hardships, is what one can be certain of, whose existence is undoubtable. Descartes’s “I think, therefore I am” concept of transcendental self with just the conscious mind is too simplistic to capture the whole of one’s self. Similarly, the empirical self’s idea of brain in charge of one’s self also shows a narrow perspective. Hume’s bundle theory seeks to provide the distinction by claiming that a self is merely a habitual way of discussing certain perceptions. Although the idea of self is well established, philosophical insight still sees that there is no clear presentation of essential self and thus fails to prove that the true, essential self really exists.