Me, myself, and I
Self
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Self?
I was once a baby.
With luck, I’ll become old.
If I make it to 80, it will be
difficult to run a mile in under
eight minutes.
The material in my body
changes about every seven
years.
If my foot or hand gets
amputated, I’d have to cope
with the loss.
I could have been born at a
different time and place.
I might survive the death of my
body and live for a time as a spirit.
I might have been born with a
different body.
I might have been born with a
better or worse mind.
I might have been Plato in a past
life.
I may come back as a dog or a
monkey in my next life.
Blackburn’s Lists
Personal Identity: Some
distinctions
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What is a self and what makes a self one self
over time?
Numerical vs qualitative identity
Kurt in 1978 is numerically but not qualitatively
identical to Kurt in 1998 (after his stroke).
Types and tokens: My clone or replicant may be
the same type as myself but a different token.
Personal Identity: The Search
for the Self
Soul view: My soul is my self and it
endures indefinitely (with or without a
body).
 Somatic view: I am this body.
 Consciousness view: I am my memories
and present experiences.
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Thomas Reid’s Brave Officer
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Suppose a brave officer to have been flogged
when a boy at school for robbing an orchard, to
have taken a standard from the enemy during
his first campaign, and to have been made a
general in advanced life; suppose, also that,
when he took the standard, he was conscious of
his having been flogged at school, and that,
when made a general, he was conscious of his
haven taken the standard, but had absolutely
lost consciousness of his flogging.
When I enter into myself I always stumble on some
perception or other…. (David Hume)
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Brain view: Where my
brain goes, I go.
Illusion of identity: There
is no enduring self. I am
a succession of thoughts
and impressions (a selfprocess).
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The existence of a
person, during any
period, just consists in the
existence of his brain and
body, and the thinking of
his thoughts, and the
doing of his deeds, and
the occurrence of many
other physical and mental
events. (D. Parfit)