Chapter 11: Who Am I?

1. Chapter 11: Who Am I?

2. Introduction • What is the nature of human beings and what constitutes their being? • Human being refers to the biological species • Person does not refer to a biological concept • What constitutes a person?

3. There Is No Self • anatta – States that there is no Atman, or no-self doctrine. This is the Buddhist response to the Hindu philosophy that you are the Atman. • Anicca – impermanence. Comes from the denial of the existence of independently existing things and therefore of substances and eternally permanent essences. • Five aggregates – the physical form, sensation, conceptualization, dispositions to act, and consciousness that make up humans, according to Buddhist philosophy

4. False Doctrines About the SoulThe Buddha • If sensation is the soul, then the soul is impermanent and not eternal. If it is not the soul, then the soul does not exist. • It is not possible for the soul to be sensation, not be sensation, or possess the faculty for sensation and still be eternal • By rejecting all of these ideas, one reaches Nirvana

5. The Simile of the Chariot • Argues that I is a practical designation that does not refer to something substantial, just as the chariot does not exist above and beyond its parts, meaning it is insubstantial, yet it is still called a chariot

6. Down with the Ego • The human brain is composed of two hemispheres that control opposite sides of the body and different mental processes • When the corpus callosum is severed, communication between the two hemispheres is cut off • Does this imply that there are two different levels of consciousness, two minds, or even two persons within one body?

7. Divided Minds and the Nature of PersonsDerek Parfit • Reflects on the implications of split-brain research for notions of what a person is • Argues that split-brain experiments are inconsistent with an “ego theory” of self but are consistent with a “bundle theory” • Ego Theory – a person’s continued existence is explained as the continued existence of the Ego, or subject of experiences • Bundle Theory – unity of consciousness, or the unity of the person, can not be explained at any time by referring to a person. Long series of different mental states and events are called a life, and each series is bundled together through causal relations • A split-brain does not mean that there are two persons in one body, but that there are two streams of consciousness, which supports the bundle theory

8. Where Am I? • How do we know that a person existing at one time is the same person existing at another time? • Can we say that someone is the same person now as they were them because they are in the same body? • Difficulties with the “body identity theory” • Looks can be deceiving • Bodies change with time • Ignores the psychological life of the person • Need to find continuity of body, mind, and psychology

9. BrainstormsDaniel Dennett • If the brain was removed from the body, where would the “self” be located? • What if the brain was cloned and put in another body, and there were two bodies? • Possible explanations • Where the body goes, there goes the person • Where the brain goes, there goes the person • The person is wherever he thinks he is. The location of a person’s point of view is the location of the person

10. Social Identity • Our personal identities are shaped in a cultural and linguistic environment • Language, as the vehicle of communication, is essential or establishing relationships, which in turn influence personal identity

11. How to Tame a Wild TongueGloria Anzaldúa • Based on the personal experience of the author as a Chicana influenced by Mexican, Indian, and Anglo culture • “Ethnic identity is twin skin to linguistic identity- I am my language.”

12. Gender Identity • Theories of gender: • Gender is determined by nature • Gender is a social construction • Queer theory, an area of academic study, explores the ways in which identities are constructed and valorized by societies and ideologies

13. CrossingDeirdre (Donald) N. McCloskey • Deirdre McCloskey was formerly Donald McCloskey and discusses her experience in crossing genders • Asserts that her gender crossing was motivated by identity • Is gender identity natural or socially constructed?