So, I don't know. how you get more personal than
the question of personal identity. By personal
identity, I am simply referring to questions
about what makes you, you, right? What makes
you who you are? I mean, just think about it
for a second, right? What is at the core of you?
Like, what makes you the person that you are,
right? Is it something about your genetic makeup?
Or your lineage? Is it a collection of experiences
that make up who you are, that differentiates
you from the person next to you? Are you defined
by your physical self? Like, is it something
about the way that we, you know, uniquely identify
individuals through, you know, DNA, fingerprints,
retina scans, right? Or by something that the
physical just simply cannot capture, right? What
matters? to your identity? Is it, say, let's
say your soul, your spirit, right? We refer to
these things as the essence of who we are, right?
Even when our bodies change. So these questions
matter so much, not just as like just a more
abstract question to ask yourself to have some
solid footing in knowing yourself, right? But
it matters for making real life decisions about
ourselves and for the other people in the world,
right? For example, If you are nothing more than
just whatever your physical self is, then you
are constantly changing. As your body changes,
as it sheds skin, the old skins die, new ones
are generated, there are scars from accidents
that you've gotten into. All these things, the
physical changes would then mean that you slowly
morph into a different person, little by little.
Right. And we do talk in this way sometimes.
Right. When we get a makeover, we say that we
feel like a new person. Right. When we try out
a new outfit or a new, you know, fashion style.
Right. But there's a difference between feeling
new in this sense, which I imagine people are
just saying that they feel refreshed or good
or something else. Right. And being a different
person altogether where other people will be
like, look at you and be like, no, you're not
the same person you were before. More concerning,
I think, more seriously, are cases in which people,
loved ones, suffer from some disease or injury
that leaves them without any consciousness or
memory. Their bodies might be the same, more
or less, but their minds are gone. The personalities,
the memories, the many aspects of them that we
have developed a relationship with, all that,
when they're gone, we... genuinely ask a much
deeper sense of, you know, a much deeper way,
right? We ask whether or not this is still the
same person, right? Sometimes we might even say
that this person has changed so much that we
don't recognize them anymore. That's not the
same person that you knew, that there might be
a different person inhabiting the same body,
or we use language like this, right? Clearly,
putting on some makeup or new clothes or developing
a new interest doesn't mean they are now a different
person, but Again, what if it was something much,
you know, much deeper that these things might
be reflecting, right? So maybe there's a, maybe
forget memories, right? Maybe they have the same
memories and, you know, all that, but then their
personality shifts completely overnight. I'm
talking like drastic change, right? Like they
used to be very kind, caring, and concerning,
concerned about other people's like feelings
and so on. And then by the next day, they just.
It's a complete 180, and then they're like a
complete sociopath. Like, you're scared that
they're actually a serial killer, right? Because
they're demonstrating some of these temperaments,
personalities, preferences, even in the same
body, right? These concerns are not just something
to consider just for ourselves, right? Like,
what would... You know, what would maintain my
own identity through time or through these changes
that we might experience in life? There's real
world implications in the rules and regulations
we set up for society, right? So in the legal
sphere, I think we see this kind of fairly clearly,
right? So there are statutes that acknowledge
that someone is, quote unquote, not in their
right mind, right? When we do not hold a person
responsible, but rather we hold the disease or
disorder that the person is. afflicted by. We
hold those things responsible. We have the insanity
plea for a reason. Why? Because we acknowledge
that there are some cases where it doesn't seem
like it was the person that was acting, but rather
it was something something that caused them,
right? And usually we're referencing something
biological, neurological, mental illness, right?
Something that has taken control in a way where
the person is absolved of any sort of legal,
maybe even moral responsibility, right? So then
at least when it comes to legal responsibility,
we sometimes differentiate between the physical
person and some other sense of the person. The
person that we, certain conditions that need
to be met for us to hold that person legally
responsible. We also struggle with questions
of identity when we have to make tough decisions
in acting on behalf of loved ones who are maybe
physically alive but lacking liveliness in other
respects. For instance, people who are in a vegetative
state who is declared brain dead. When we decide
whether or not to keep them physically alive,
one of the core questions that people ask is
whether this non -physical self right? The one
that we built a relationship and have these memories
with, right? The one that we love so deeply,
whether that person is still there somewhere
in that body, or whether or not that person can
be recovered in some way. The fact that these
are even considerations that we have suggests
that, you know, what might matter more than,
you know, in identifying a person is not just
their body, but rather something else, right?
that other whatever you want to call it, right?
We could debate about exactly what it is, but
something about that person that makes them who
they are, like at least the part that matters
to us, right? And finally, not to get too sci
-fi on you, but imagine, you know, that it became
a reality that we could transfer consciousness
into a different body or, you know, maybe a computer.
I mean, I have questions about how possible that
is. But let's just assume that, you know, there
are ways to kind of transfer our memories, our
thoughts, our tendencies, our personalities.
We could transfer it to a different body, right?
Let's say once we know more about how the brain
works and all the way the nerve endings work,
and maybe it's a possibility at some point. Or
uploading all our memory into a hard drive, right?
You know, I don't, again, I'm not going to speculate
on when this might happen or if it'll even happen,
right? But at least the brain transplant situation
doesn't seem all that insane, given how much
we've advanced in the medical sciences, given
how much we already understand about how the
brain operates, where and how memory tends to
be stored and the physical, you know, organs
that we have in our bodies, right? We're able
to transplant other vital organs, right? I mean,
if we know if we could discover a way to do it
in a way that we could actually keep people alive,
I imagine brain transplants are not going to
be somewhere completely out of the realm of possibility.
So then if the only thing that changes in my
body is... something other than the things that
actually we might think that matters to us in
identifying the person that we care about, right?
How is this supposed to work, right? How are
we supposed to understand who or whether or not
I maintain my identity through these sorts of
transplants, right? I mean, people have already
spoken about this when it comes to things like
heart transplants and so on. Somehow, in receiving
an organ from somebody else, they feel like somebody
else has entered into them. And they're not just
talking metaphorically. It's almost like the
memories of that person in those organs have
been transplanted into them as well. So then
this seems silly now. But sillier propositions
have come true. I wouldn't throw it out there
that we might have to find new ways of identifying
people if these sorts of transplants, these sort
of sci -fi film at the moment kind of scenarios
do at some point come true. Look, the point is
this. Whether or not you spend time thinking
about these questions, the reality is that the
question of personal identity is impacting your
life in some way. it impacts how you understand
relationships and what it is that you're building
a relationship with. It might also explain one
of the reasons you might decide to end the relationship.
I mean, this is not an uncommon thing for people
to say, right? Where they say that, you know,
the other person that they've been in a relationship
with for so long, they started becoming different,
right? they moved in a different direction found
new passions or found a new group of friends
or as a result they've started changing in the
way that they their personality or all these
and then we often say this right that we you
know you and that person maybe grew apart and
that because that that person has changed in
ways that you weren't necessarily expecting you
feel more like strangers than friends or as a
romantic partner and as a result you change the
nature of your relationships. When you have to
decide what to do with your loved one who now
has, let's say, severe dementia, you will be
wondering whether or not this person is the person
that you knew for so long, right? There will
come a day, right, when you're going to have
to make these, I mean, you know, hopefully we
find treatment for these things so that you don't
have to face... such a difficult decision, but
this is a decision that many people face in their
day -to -day life in caring for the people that
they love. When you decide as a juror whether
or not to punish a person for committing some
heinous act in a moment of, let's say, delirium,
it will matter to you, if not legally, then at
least personally, whether or not you think this
person is actually the one who committed the
act, whether they are the one deserving of the
punishment or if it's some other thing that should
be held responsible, not the person themselves.
Like the physical body might have done the act,
but you might think that the core of that identity
that we tend to hold as the being that is responsible
for committing these acts, you might not think
so. The questions of personal identity is inescapable
because our identity and our relationships to
others with their identity, this matters. This
matters. So whether or not you spend time reflecting
on these questions, my guess is that, you know,
these ideas, these frameworks, there's like some...
There's something that you're probably already
working with and understanding what constitutes
a person, what makes them the same person when
they become a different person, right? There's
probably something working in the background.
The only thing that philosophy does is forces
you to bring that to the surface for honest discussion.
And I'm not going to say that I have the right
answers. I could only present, you know. People
who are smarter than me who have come up with
many different ideas about exactly what makes
a person who they are, right? I can only present
these, you know, different ideas. But I imagine
if you want to gain a little more clarity for
yourself. If you are struggling with these decisions,
then I'm guessing that talking more explicitly
about personal identity will at least give you
some guidelines or a way of thinking about the
decision that you have to make, or at least give
you the words and the concepts to help you better
make sense of what it is you might be feeling,
what it is you might be thinking, and what it
is that you are looking to do.