Persistence

Question 1

1) What are the two key questions about personal identity?

Answer 1

1) Persistence - what makes a person in the past/future you. 2) Kind question - what kind of thing are you.

Question 2

2) What are the two types of continuities?

Answer 2

1) Physical continuity 2) Psychological continuity

Question 3

3) What are necessary and sufficient conditions?

Answer 3

Necessary: if P then Q / if not P then not Q. Sufficient: if (P or G) then Q / if (not P or not G) then not Q.

Question 4

4) What are the main approaches to persistence?

Answer 4

1) Psychological continuity 2) Biological continuity 3) Animalist accounts

Question 5

5) What is the memory criterion for personal identity?

Answer 5

Memory: B remembers being A.

Question 6

6) What are the objections to the memory criterion?

Answer 6

Objections: direct memory, circularity objection, quasi-memory.

Question 7

7) What are the tele-transporter and body swap thought experiments?

Answer 7

Tele-transporter: you travel by having your data beamed and reassembled. Body swap: two people ‘swap’ psychological states.

Question 8

8) What issues arise from the tele-transporter thought experiment?

Answer 8

Issues: malfunction, multiple copies, previous you still exists, memory wiped.

Question 9

9) How does Locke’s ‘Body swap V2’ challenge psychological continuity?

Answer 9

It shows that psychological continuity is not sufficient for personal identity.

Question 10

10) What are the different reactions to thought experiments?

Answer 10

Reactions: both convincing, both unconvincing, one convincing, both problematic.

Question 11

11) What are some real-life cases to consider for personal identity?

Answer 11

Real-life cases: Were you a fetus? Would you survive in a persistent vegetative state?

Question 12

12) What are fission examples and their implications for personal identity?

Answer 12

Fission examples: brain halved and donated to two different people. Implications: psychological continuity not sufficient.

Question 13

13) What are the conclusions from fission examples?

Answer 13

Psychological continuity is good evidence for persistence but not sufficient; focus on biological continuity instead.

Question 14

14) What is the difference between direct and indirect memory?

Answer 14

Direct memory: B remembers being A. Indirect memory: chain of memories but you don’t remember every moment.

Question 15

15) What is the Noonan objection to thought experiments?

Answer 15

Noonan objection: participants’ beliefs about identity influence their assessments, making thought experiments inconclusive.