Unity of identity:
The ability to consider oneself to be the same person in different times and places is an important characteristic of personhood.
Descartes argued that the essential self was a 'rational soul' - a being that thinks, which is somehow united to the body but which can survive death.
Therefore the essence of self must be non-physical.
Our bodies are composite and therefore can be destroyed however the mind is not, therefore it must be immortal.
Descartes' concludes that personal identity is mental, to do with thoughts, beliefs, memories and character. Therefore I can undergo any number of physical changes and still maintain my personal identity - the 'I' or 'self' cannot die.
However this invites the prospect of personal identity maintaining through reincarnation. If the essential self is the soul, and the soul survives bodily death, we must be able to consider ourselves the same person after reincarnation.
Locke argued that if you cannot conceive of yourself as the same person after reincarnation this would suggest that the containing existence of a rational soul through time is not sufficient for personal identity through time.
Hume disagreed with Descartes and argued that we 'discover' our identity through memory as 'memory alone acquaints us with the continuance and extent of this succession of perceptions'.
However is it physical or psychological continuity that endures through time?

	Created by lucy-hook over 11 years ago

A-Level Philosophy (Personhood) Note on Personal identity through time, created by lucy-hook on 09/04/2013.