Consciousness and Personal Identity. An Investigation

Consciousness and Personal Identity. An Investigation

Author: Seth Carter

Publisher: GRIN Verlag

Published: 2017-08-07

Total Pages: 17

ISBN-13: 366849925X

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Essay from the year 2017 in the subject Philosophy - Practical (Ethics, Aesthetics, Culture, Nature, Right, ...), grade: 3.34, Indiana University (College of Arts and Sciences - Philosophy Department), course: PHIL-P300 Philosophical Writing Methods, language: English, abstract: The Philosophy of Personal Identity which bears a rich tradition dating back to some of the seminal psychological theory of identity forwarded by John Locke. In this essay, I propose a new variation of an imperfect psychological criterion of personal identity that attempts to precisely answer the question, "What is necessary and sufficient for a person to be the same person over time?" Though various experts in this field such as Derek Parfit have forwarded skepticism and outright rejection of conventional theories of personal identity, this paper appeals to metaphysical notions of immanent causality in an effort to respond to Parfit and formulate a framework of identity that explains and satisfies what are often closely held intuitions on personhood.


Book Synopsis Consciousness and Personal Identity. An Investigation by : Seth Carter

Download or read book Consciousness and Personal Identity. An Investigation written by Seth Carter and published by GRIN Verlag. This book was released on 2017-08-07 with total page 17 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Essay from the year 2017 in the subject Philosophy - Practical (Ethics, Aesthetics, Culture, Nature, Right, ...), grade: 3.34, Indiana University (College of Arts and Sciences - Philosophy Department), course: PHIL-P300 Philosophical Writing Methods, language: English, abstract: The Philosophy of Personal Identity which bears a rich tradition dating back to some of the seminal psychological theory of identity forwarded by John Locke. In this essay, I propose a new variation of an imperfect psychological criterion of personal identity that attempts to precisely answer the question, "What is necessary and sufficient for a person to be the same person over time?" Though various experts in this field such as Derek Parfit have forwarded skepticism and outright rejection of conventional theories of personal identity, this paper appeals to metaphysical notions of immanent causality in an effort to respond to Parfit and formulate a framework of identity that explains and satisfies what are often closely held intuitions on personhood.

Locke on Personal Identity

Locke on Personal Identity

Author: Galen Strawson

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2014-07-21

Total Pages: 279

ISBN-13: 0691161003

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

John Locke's theory of personal identity underlies all modern discussion of the nature of persons and selves—yet it is widely thought to be wrong. In this book, Galen Strawson argues that in fact it is Locke’s critics who are wrong, and that the famous objections to his theory are invalid. Indeed, far from refuting Locke, they illustrate his fundamental point. Strawson argues that the root error is to take Locke’s use of the word "person" as merely a term for a standard persisting thing, like "human being." In actuality, Locke uses "person" primarily as a forensic or legal term geared specifically to questions about praise and blame, punishment and reward. This point is familiar to some philosophers, but its full consequences have not been worked out, partly because of a further error about what Locke means by the word "conscious." When Locke claims that your personal identity is a matter of the actions that you are conscious of, he means the actions that you experience as your own in some fundamental and immediate manner. Clearly and vigorously argued, this is an important contribution both to the history of philosophy and to the contemporary philosophy of personal identity.


Book Synopsis Locke on Personal Identity by : Galen Strawson

Download or read book Locke on Personal Identity written by Galen Strawson and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2014-07-21 with total page 279 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: John Locke's theory of personal identity underlies all modern discussion of the nature of persons and selves—yet it is widely thought to be wrong. In this book, Galen Strawson argues that in fact it is Locke’s critics who are wrong, and that the famous objections to his theory are invalid. Indeed, far from refuting Locke, they illustrate his fundamental point. Strawson argues that the root error is to take Locke’s use of the word "person" as merely a term for a standard persisting thing, like "human being." In actuality, Locke uses "person" primarily as a forensic or legal term geared specifically to questions about praise and blame, punishment and reward. This point is familiar to some philosophers, but its full consequences have not been worked out, partly because of a further error about what Locke means by the word "conscious." When Locke claims that your personal identity is a matter of the actions that you are conscious of, he means the actions that you experience as your own in some fundamental and immediate manner. Clearly and vigorously argued, this is an important contribution both to the history of philosophy and to the contemporary philosophy of personal identity.

Personal Identity and Self-Consciousness

Personal Identity and Self-Consciousness

Author: Brian Garrett

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2002-01-31

Total Pages: 254

ISBN-13: 1134708017

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Personal Identity and Self-Consciousness is about persons and personal identity. What are we? And why does personal identity matter? Brian Garrett, using jargon-free language, addresses questions in the metaphysics of personal identity, questions in value theory, and discusses questions about the first person singular. Brian Garrett makes an important contribution to the philosophy of personal identity and mind, and to epistemology.


Book Synopsis Personal Identity and Self-Consciousness by : Brian Garrett

Download or read book Personal Identity and Self-Consciousness written by Brian Garrett and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2002-01-31 with total page 254 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Personal Identity and Self-Consciousness is about persons and personal identity. What are we? And why does personal identity matter? Brian Garrett, using jargon-free language, addresses questions in the metaphysics of personal identity, questions in value theory, and discusses questions about the first person singular. Brian Garrett makes an important contribution to the philosophy of personal identity and mind, and to epistemology.

Personal Identity and Self-Consciousness

Personal Identity and Self-Consciousness

Author: Brian Garrett

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2002-01-31

Total Pages: 148

ISBN-13: 1134708025

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Personal Identity and Self-Consciousness is about persons and personal identity. What are we? And why does personal identity matter? Brian Garrett, using jargon-free language, addresses questions in the metaphysics of personal identity, questions in value theory, and discusses questions about the first person singular. Brian Garrett makes an important contribution to the philosophy of personal identity and mind, and to epistemology.


Book Synopsis Personal Identity and Self-Consciousness by : Brian Garrett

Download or read book Personal Identity and Self-Consciousness written by Brian Garrett and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2002-01-31 with total page 148 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Personal Identity and Self-Consciousness is about persons and personal identity. What are we? And why does personal identity matter? Brian Garrett, using jargon-free language, addresses questions in the metaphysics of personal identity, questions in value theory, and discusses questions about the first person singular. Brian Garrett makes an important contribution to the philosophy of personal identity and mind, and to epistemology.

Self-consciousness

Self-consciousness

Author: Sebastian Rödl

Publisher: Harvard University Press

Published: 2007

Total Pages: 230

ISBN-13: 9780674024946

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Rödl's thesis is that self-knowledge is not empirical; it does not spring from sensory affection. Rather, self-knowledge is knowledge from spontaneity; its object and its source are the subject's own activity, in the primary instance its acts of thinking, both theoretical and practical thinking, belief and action.


Book Synopsis Self-consciousness by : Sebastian Rödl

Download or read book Self-consciousness written by Sebastian Rödl and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2007 with total page 230 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Rödl's thesis is that self-knowledge is not empirical; it does not spring from sensory affection. Rather, self-knowledge is knowledge from spontaneity; its object and its source are the subject's own activity, in the primary instance its acts of thinking, both theoretical and practical thinking, belief and action.

Personal Identity

Personal Identity

Author: John Perry

Publisher: Univ of California Press

Published: 1975

Total Pages: 260

ISBN-13: 9780520029606

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This volume brings together the vital contributions of distinguished past and contemporary philosophers to the important topic of personal identity. The first part sets forth the attempts by John Locke, Anthony Quinton, and H. P. Grice to analyze personal identity in terms of memory. The eleven other selections are largely critical of this approach and provide alternative perspectives. Part II contains classic contributions by Joseph Butler, Thomas Reid, and Sydney S. Shoemaker, and a new paper by John Perry--"Personal Identity, Memory, and the Problem of Circularity"--in which he defends some of the central features of the Locke-Grice-Quinton approach. Part III contains three sections from David Hume's Treatise of Human Nature: "Our idea of Identity," "Of Personal Identity," and an appendix which the editor has entitled "Second Thoughts." In the fourth part of the volume, Bernard Williams discusses "The Self and the Future," and Derek Parfit contributes his view of "Personal Identity." A recurring theme throughout the work is the possibility of "body transfer"--of a single person having, at different times, different bodies. In the final section of the volume ("Brian Bisection and the Unity of Consciousness"), Thomas Nagel examines the philosophical implications of recent scientific research on split-brain patients' he discusses the possibility, entertained by some researchers, that such cases involve two persons simultaneously inhabiting a single body. In his long introduction to this unique anthology on a topic of prime interest to the philosophical community, Mr. Perry scrutinizes the differing approaches and vocabularies of the various authors. The editor also includes "Suggestions for Further Reading."


Book Synopsis Personal Identity by : John Perry

Download or read book Personal Identity written by John Perry and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 1975 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume brings together the vital contributions of distinguished past and contemporary philosophers to the important topic of personal identity. The first part sets forth the attempts by John Locke, Anthony Quinton, and H. P. Grice to analyze personal identity in terms of memory. The eleven other selections are largely critical of this approach and provide alternative perspectives. Part II contains classic contributions by Joseph Butler, Thomas Reid, and Sydney S. Shoemaker, and a new paper by John Perry--"Personal Identity, Memory, and the Problem of Circularity"--in which he defends some of the central features of the Locke-Grice-Quinton approach. Part III contains three sections from David Hume's Treatise of Human Nature: "Our idea of Identity," "Of Personal Identity," and an appendix which the editor has entitled "Second Thoughts." In the fourth part of the volume, Bernard Williams discusses "The Self and the Future," and Derek Parfit contributes his view of "Personal Identity." A recurring theme throughout the work is the possibility of "body transfer"--of a single person having, at different times, different bodies. In the final section of the volume ("Brian Bisection and the Unity of Consciousness"), Thomas Nagel examines the philosophical implications of recent scientific research on split-brain patients' he discusses the possibility, entertained by some researchers, that such cases involve two persons simultaneously inhabiting a single body. In his long introduction to this unique anthology on a topic of prime interest to the philosophical community, Mr. Perry scrutinizes the differing approaches and vocabularies of the various authors. The editor also includes "Suggestions for Further Reading."

The Phenomenal Self

The Phenomenal Self

Author: Barry Dainton

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2008-03-13

Total Pages: 461

ISBN-13: 0199288844

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Phenomenal continuity seems to provide a more reliable guide to our persistence than any other form of continuity. The Phenomenal Self is a full-scale defence and elaboration of this premise."--BOOK JACKET.


Book Synopsis The Phenomenal Self by : Barry Dainton

Download or read book The Phenomenal Self written by Barry Dainton and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2008-03-13 with total page 461 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Phenomenal continuity seems to provide a more reliable guide to our persistence than any other form of continuity. The Phenomenal Self is a full-scale defence and elaboration of this premise."--BOOK JACKET.

The Constitution of Selves

The Constitution of Selves

Author: Marya Schechtman

Publisher: Cornell University Press

Published: 2018-10-18

Total Pages: 188

ISBN-13: 150171838X

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

An amnesia victim asking "Who am I?" means something different from a confused adolescent asking the same question. Marya Schechtman takes issue with analytic philosophy's emphasis on the first sort of question to the exclusion of the second. The problem of personal identity, she suggests, is usually understood to be a question about historical life. What she calls the "reidentification question" is taken to be the real metaphysical question of personal identity, whereas questions about beliefs or values and the actions they prompt, the "characterization question," are often presented as merely metaphorical. Failure to recognize the philosophical importance of both these questions, Schechtman argues, has undermined analytic philosophy's attempts at offering a satisfying account of personal identity. Considerations related to the characterization question creep unrecognized into discussions of reidentification, with the result that neither question is adequately addressed. Schechtman shows how separating the two questions allows for a more fruitful approach to the reidentification question, and she develops her own narrative account of characterization. She suggests that persons constitute their identities by developing autobiographical narratives that bear the right relation to facts about the environment, the general concept of a person, and other people's concepts of who they are.


Book Synopsis The Constitution of Selves by : Marya Schechtman

Download or read book The Constitution of Selves written by Marya Schechtman and published by Cornell University Press. This book was released on 2018-10-18 with total page 188 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An amnesia victim asking "Who am I?" means something different from a confused adolescent asking the same question. Marya Schechtman takes issue with analytic philosophy's emphasis on the first sort of question to the exclusion of the second. The problem of personal identity, she suggests, is usually understood to be a question about historical life. What she calls the "reidentification question" is taken to be the real metaphysical question of personal identity, whereas questions about beliefs or values and the actions they prompt, the "characterization question," are often presented as merely metaphorical. Failure to recognize the philosophical importance of both these questions, Schechtman argues, has undermined analytic philosophy's attempts at offering a satisfying account of personal identity. Considerations related to the characterization question creep unrecognized into discussions of reidentification, with the result that neither question is adequately addressed. Schechtman shows how separating the two questions allows for a more fruitful approach to the reidentification question, and she develops her own narrative account of characterization. She suggests that persons constitute their identities by developing autobiographical narratives that bear the right relation to facts about the environment, the general concept of a person, and other people's concepts of who they are.

Reasons and Persons

Reasons and Persons

Author: Derek Parfit

Publisher: OUP Oxford

Published: 1986-01-23

Total Pages: 560

ISBN-13: 0191622443

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This book challenges, with several powerful arguments, some of our deepest beliefs about rationality, morality, and personal identity. The author claims that we have a false view of our own nature; that it is often rational to act against our own best interests; that most of us have moral views that are directly self-defeating; and that, when we consider future generations the conclusions will often be disturbing. He concludes that moral non-religious moral philosophy is a young subject, with a promising but unpredictable future.


Book Synopsis Reasons and Persons by : Derek Parfit

Download or read book Reasons and Persons written by Derek Parfit and published by OUP Oxford. This book was released on 1986-01-23 with total page 560 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book challenges, with several powerful arguments, some of our deepest beliefs about rationality, morality, and personal identity. The author claims that we have a false view of our own nature; that it is often rational to act against our own best interests; that most of us have moral views that are directly self-defeating; and that, when we consider future generations the conclusions will often be disturbing. He concludes that moral non-religious moral philosophy is a young subject, with a promising but unpredictable future.

Subjective Consciousness

Subjective Consciousness

Author: Uriah Kriegel

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2009-08-06

Total Pages: 340

ISBN-13: 0199570353

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Uriah Kriegel develops an objective theory of what it is for a mental state to be conscious. The key idea is that consciousness arises when self-awareness and world-awareness are integrated in the right way. Conscious mental states differ from unconscious ones in that, whatever else they represent, they represent themselves in a very specific way.


Book Synopsis Subjective Consciousness by : Uriah Kriegel

Download or read book Subjective Consciousness written by Uriah Kriegel and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2009-08-06 with total page 340 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Uriah Kriegel develops an objective theory of what it is for a mental state to be conscious. The key idea is that consciousness arises when self-awareness and world-awareness are integrated in the right way. Conscious mental states differ from unconscious ones in that, whatever else they represent, they represent themselves in a very specific way.