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Personal Identity & Immortality

Personal Identity & Immortality. Sketch by Leonardo da Vinci. Requirements for Memory. I (really) remember X: I have an experience as though I remember x. X has to have happened. My memory of x has been produced in the right way (reliably). Theories of Personal Identity.

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Personal Identity & Immortality

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  1. Personal Identity & Immortality Sketch by Leonardo da Vinci

  2. Requirements for Memory • I (really) remember X: • I have an experience as though I remember x. • X has to have happened. • My memory of x has been produced in the right way (reliably).

  3. Theories of Personal Identity • Same Soul Theory. • Same Body Theory. • Psychological Continuity Theory. • Objections? • Danger of Duplication: • Could more than one later person be psychologically continuous with me?

  4. Psychological Continuity Shmock t+1 on the planet Memory of x Experience y Person-stages: Spock t Experience x Shmock is psychologically continuous with Spock, so they are the very same person: (Spock = Shmock) In the Transporter

  5. Psychological Continuity Shlock is psychologically continuous with Spock, so they are the very same person: (Spock = Shlock) Person-stages: Spock t Experience x Memory of x Experience y In the Transporter Shlock t+1 on the planet

  6. Psychological Continuity Shmock t+1 Memory of x Experience y Person-stages: Shmock and Shlock are qualitatively indiscernible, but since they have different bodies they are not numerically identical: (Shmock  Shlock) Memory of x Experience y Shlock t+1

  7. Psychological Continuity Shmock t+1 Memory of x Experience y Person-stages: Spock t Experience x Memory of x Experience y In the Transporter Shlock t+1

  8. Psychological Continuity • So we have: • Spock = Shlock • Spock = Shmock • By transitivity of identity: Shlock = Shmock • But, Shlock  Shmock • Contradiction! • Like a xerox machine in which 2 copies are made, and the original is destroyed.

  9. Spock t Cell Fission Shmock t+1 Shlock t+1

  10. Psychological Continuity • Fix Contradiction? • One person cannot become/be identical with two (different) people. • Add a further condition to the Psychological Continuity Theory:

  11. Psychological Continuity • Psychological Continuity Theory: A person at one time is the very same person as a person at a later time if and only if there is one and only one person at the later time who is psychologically continuous with the person at the earlier time. • Too ad hoc?

  12. Psychological Continuity • Too ad hoc? • You could never know if you were the very same person, for fear of an unknown double running around. • When you wake up in the morning, you know it’s you, without knowing whether you’ve been duplicated. • Perhaps you are the duplicate--you just think you are the original!

  13. Psychological Continuity Shmock t+1 in the spaceship Memory of x Experience y Person-stages: Spock t Experience x Memory of x Experience y In the Transporter Shlock t+1 on the planet

  14. Psychological Continuity • If one of the later person-stages has a better claim to being identical to the original, then that person is the very same person, the other is only a duplicate. • Like a xerox machine, where the original is preserved, and a copy is made. • But Shlock can’t tell he’s the duplicate! • What would you say to Shlock?

  15. Psychological Continuity • Problem is created because of the transitivity of identity--you can’t become two different people. • If there are 2 later person-stages that have equal claim to being psychologically continuous with the earlier stage, does that mean the person has gone out of existence? • But would it be as bad as dying?

  16. Psychological Continuity • But would it be as bad as dying? • What do you care about? • Taking care of those you love? • Finishing projects you’ve started? • Those things would still happen.

  17. Psychological Continuity • Perhaps identity is not what’s important. • What’s important is that there be a future self who continues my concerns. • Perhaps what matters is not numerical identity (which has to be unique), but continuation/survival, which does not. (p.49) • Another modification:

  18. Psychological Continuity • Psychological Continuity Theory: A person at one time continues/survives as a person at a later time if and only if the person at the later time is psychologically continuous with the person at the earlier time. • No longer a theory of personal identity. • But may be what we are really looking for.

  19. Theories of Personal Identity • Same Soul Theory. • Same Body Theory. • Psychological Continuity Theory. • Could there be conflicts between these theories? • The judgement made by one theory differs from the judgement made by another theory about a particular (hard) case. • Which theory to follow in that case?

  20. Theories of Personal Identity • Brain-transplant case: • Julia North and Mary Frances Beaudine. • JN about to die from damage to her heart. • MB about to die from damage to her brain. • Transplant JN’s brain into MB’s body. • Who is the resulting person?

  21. MB JN JN’s brain into MB’s body

  22. Theories of Personal Identity • Who is the resulting person? • Same Soul Theory? • Same Body Theory? • Psychological Continuity Theory? • What are the strengths and weaknesses of each of the competing theories? • What implications do the various theories have for immortality?

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