A Question of Identity
por
Bob Harrison
Hello, you, this is me – and that’s him. But what are you? And what am I? And what is he? Three questions, and in each case the answer is philosophically interesting. The interest turns on the further question: “What is a person?”
John Locke offers a suggestion:
“what person stands for... a thinking, intelligent being that has reason and reflection and can consider itself as itself, the same thinking thing in different times and places.” An Essay Concerning Human Understanding
This is Locke’s famous theory that psychological continuity is the key to personal identity: the idea that if you can remember doing something, it was you who did it, and if you can’t remember doing it, it wasn’t you, but a different person. It wouldn’t be difficult to find a fair number of philosophers who would take Locke’s sixteenth century definition of ‘person’ either as the right answer, or at least a very useful starting point on a journey to such an answer. But what is the point of asking the question in the first place? What is the use of making, as Locke does, a distinction between a ‘man’ – the living, thinking body – and a ‘person’ – the living, but purely mental being?
John Locke offers a suggestion:
“what person stands for... a thinking, intelligent being that has reason and reflection and can consider itself as itself, the same thinking thing in different times and places.” An Essay Concerning Human Understanding
This is Locke’s famous theory that psychological continuity is the key to personal identity: the idea that if you can remember doing something, it was you who did it, and if you can’t remember doing it, it wasn’t you, but a different person. It wouldn’t be difficult to find a fair number of philosophers who would take Locke’s sixteenth century definition of ‘person’ either as the right answer, or at least a very useful starting point on a journey to such an answer. But what is the point of asking the question in the first place? What is the use of making, as Locke does, a distinction between a ‘man’ – the living, thinking body – and a ‘person’ – the living, but purely mental being?
Sem comentários:
Enviar um comentário