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Personal Identity
Thesis - Current Position
(Text as at 26/11/2007 23:25:26)
*** THIS IS NOT THE LATEST VERSION OF THIS NOTE ***
(For the live version and other versions of this Note, see the tables at the end)
My own current views on the topic of Personal Identity, which are somewhat in tension, are:-
- That Olson is right that we are identical to human animals1 and that consequently no psychological continuity2 is necessary for our persistence3.
- That a human person falls under a phase sortal4 of the concept HUMAN ANIMAL.
- Nevertheless, that something critically important of us is lost with the cessation of psychological activity and that our first-person perspective5 is in some way vital.
- That if our first-person perspective could “hop” across or vacate6 bodies7 “we” would have survived. But, that this “hopping” is (nomologically) impossible as our first-person perspective is too tightly coupled to our physical brains8.
- That the difference between forward9 and backward psychological continuity is key.
- That any view that sees particular persons as logically prior to, and only temporarily constituted10 by, human animals is incorrect
- Nevertheless, that the “Thinking Animal” / “Too Many Minds” objection11 to the Constitution View is unsound and unnecessary.
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