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Description
What are we? What does it take for one of us to survive from one time to another? Are we material things?听 Are we brains, animals, souls, computer programs, or something else?听 How do we relate to our bodies? This module addresses questions of personal identity. While some seminal early modern texts will be highlighted, such as Locke鈥檚 Essay, we will primarily scrutinize relevant theories and arguments from recent analytic metaphysics and the philosophy of mind.
Background reading for Week 1
鈥⑻� Locke, J., 1975, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, P. Nidditch (ed.), Oxford: Clarendon Press.听 (II.xxvii) 鈥極f Identity and Diversity鈥�
Further reading
鈥⑻� Snowdon, P. 1990 鈥楶ersons, Animals and Ourselves鈥� in The Person and the Human Mind: Issues in Ancient and Modern Philosophy, C. Gill (ed.), Oxford: Clarendon Press, pp. 83鈥�107. Reprinted in Crane and Farkas (eds.) 2004 Metaphysics: A Guide and Anthology
鈥⑻� Olson, E. 1997 The Human Animal New York: Oxford University Press
鈥⑻� 听听Parfit, D. 2012 鈥榃e Are Not Human Beings鈥� in Philosophy 87: 5鈥�28
鈥⑻� Campbell, T. and J. McMahan, 2017 鈥楢nimalism and the Varieties of Conjoined Twinning鈥� in S. Blatti and P. Snowdon (eds.) Essays on Animalism: Persons, Animals, and Identity, Oxford: Oxford University Press
Philosophy Area A
Module deliveries for 2024/25 academic year
Last updated
This module description was last updated on 8th April 2024.
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