Theories Of Personal Identity

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Personal identity can be thoroughly examined by considering different philosophical and psychological theories. Regularly we do not stop to reflect on what our own identity consists of, but Parfit discusses the implications of personal identity in a way that applies to an everyday way of thinking. In “Why our identity is not what matters”, we are given a scenario in which he considers how teletransportation would affect the continuity of our personal identity. This scenario sparks many questions on the beliefs we hold on our identity. If our body were to die, but our thoughts, feelings, and experiences lived on in a replica of us would our existence continue without this idea of an extended self? What if there was no replica, but instead our …show more content…

The scenario given was to support his claim that there is no self, it is an illusion. Personal identity is an illusionary concept, that does not continue our existence. What continues our existence are the psychological experiences that impact our mind and body. His Sci-fi example really supports this theory, without the story it would be difficult to understand how anyone could reject personal identity as important to continuity. He uses the replica to provide a reality where his experiences continue with neither his mind or body. This is important to note because other theories rely on either the mind or body to claim continuity of existence and Parfit creates a clear example where neither are …show more content…

Parfit acknowledges the claim that if there are two separate consciousness, then there is no longer one person, but two. Parfit, rightfully denies this claim as plausible because of his no-self position. To support his position that there is no self, he would be right to reject the idea that having two streams of consciousness would mean there are two people in one body because the mind is not the qualifying factor for existence. His example of being able to reconnect/disconnect his mind makes it impossible for the two-minded person to exist because if he had that ability to separate his mind into two then reconnect, he would still be relying on his whole brain. Here his brain is the river and the two the stream. Therefore, if his brain continues to exists after separation then there is not two people but only

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