Before you begin writing your essay, read Derek Parfit’s paper “Personal Identity and the Triplet
Case” (excerpt from Reasons and Persons, 1986), available on Blackboard. It’s not as long as it
looks, it will help you formulate your ideas for this paper, and it is very well written.
Step One
Define and contrast “qualitative identity” and “numerical identity.” Give an example of
two numerically distinct items that are qualitatively identical, and then explain how two
photographs could be of qualitatively different but numerically identical subjects. (2
paragraphs minimum, 30 points.)
Step Two
Explain that what philosophers mean when they bring up “the problem of personal identity” is the question “What keeps a person numerically identical to him/herself over
a lifetime despite their undergoing possibly drastic qualitative changes? In other words,
how much could you change and still be you?” Give some examples of people who change
a lot and how its philosophically questionable whether or not they really still exist as the
same person after undergoing said change. A fictional example you might take
inspiration from is a person who has been turned into a zombie or a werewolf. A nonfictional example you might take inspiration from is Phineas Gage. (1 paragraph
minimum, 20 points.)
Step Three
Then explain the brain criterion of personal identity. What reasons are there for thinking
that what makes you you is your brain? (1 paragraph minimum, 20 points.)
Step Four
Explain the memory criterion of personal identity. What do philosophers mean when
they claim that what makes you you are your memories? What kind of memories? And
does this criterion imply that you were never a one year-old, assuming you can’t
remember being a one year-old? (2 paragraph minimum, 30 points.)
Step Five
Rewatch the trailer for the movie Freaky Friday on Blackboard. Before they eat the
cursed fortune cookie, the character Anna is played by Lindsay Lohan and the character
Tess is played by Jamie Lee Curtis, but after they eat the fortune cookie their identity
becomes philosophically debatable. Explain which characters (who you should call
“Anna” and “Tess”) inhabit which bodies (which you should call “LL” for Lindsay Lohan’s
body and “JLC” for Jamie Lee Curtis’s body) after the fortune cookie scene, according to
the brain and memory criterion of personal identity. Assume that the cursed fortune
cookie swaps their memories between their brains but does not swap their brains
between their skulls. (2 paragraphs minimum, 30 points.)
Step Six
Personal identity is both symmetric and transitive – explain what this means. Give
examples of transitive and symmetric relations other than personal identity, and also
give an example of a relation that is neither transitive nor symmetric. How does the
transitivity of personal identity solve the problem of how an old person can be personally
identical with a one year-old child eighty years ago, if they have no memories in common
and their bodies have no cells in common? (3 paragraphs minimum, 40 points.)
Step Seven
Explain what a “dividing” case looks like for Parfit. While humans cannot divide like
amoeba, he thinks we can describe a case using triplets that results in a scenario very
much like dividing amoeba in the relevant respects (it involves very innovative brain
surgery). Describe this scenario and explain what Parfit thinks happens to someone if
they “divide” in this way. Which of the two resulting half-brained people does Parfit
think the original whole-brained person is identical to, if either, and why? (2 paragraphs
minimum, 40 points.)
Step Eight
We know that our memories are stored in patterns of neural connections in our brains,
and so, in the future, scientists could hypothetically discover the code used by our brains
to store memories and use this knowledge to “implant” memories in our minds by
rewiring our neurons. In this hypothetical scenario, scientists could scan your brain and
use this information to implant all of your memories into a clone. Upon awakening from
surgery, the clone would have all of your memories and no memories of its own – the
clone would think he/she is you.
Imagine that the brain scan procedure would kill your brain if it happened to you.
Nevertheless, it would allow all of your memories to be implanted into a newer, fresher
brain and younger, healthier body whenever you wished. Explain whether or not the
clones with your memories would be you. If this procedure were offered to you, would
you agree to it? Why or why not? (1 paragraph minimum, 20 point
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