The concept of personal identity arose arguably within the European intellectual tradition. It has etymological roots in the colloquial Greek term prosopon and its Latin equivalent persona, signifying “the mask worn in comedy or tragedy “or “the character an actor plays- dramatis personae.” (Chadwick 1981,193). As early as the sixth century, Boethius (480-524 C.E.), a Latin philosopher and Christian theologian, formulated the concept of personal identity as synthesis of the Aristotelian concept of substance and notion of an eternal soul, which early Christian theology had inherited from Neoplatonist philosophy. In the context of the early Christian debates on Christology, (- foot note- Christian theologians appropriated the colloquial term
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It is important to note Boethius’ usage of “persona “implies unity, endurance, and most importantly, rationality, thus distinguishing the essence of Mensch-sein not only from the mask that can be arbitrarily and deliberately utilized or discarded by any given actor, but also from inanimate, insensible, and irrational entities. However, it was not until the notion of the individual had developed in the thought of the Italian Renaissance the the conception of personal identity as an individual- over- time became the subject of general philosophical debate, involving eminent thinkers such as Gottfried W. Leibniz, John Locke, Hume, Joseph Butler, And Thomas Reid.( foot note- the blossoming dominance of the individualist paradigm finds its expression in Martin Luther’s sola fide, Descartes’ cogito, and the renditions of the right of the individual in the political movements during this time period.-). By …show more content…
awakening to itself , the experiential “I” , that is, the self- conscious agent, finds itself thrown, as Martin Heidegger would say, ( As Martin Srajek has pointed out to me , Heidegger does not suggests that Dasein awakens to an essence in the Neo- Platonic sense but rather privileges the experiential “I” over any persisting essence, in the sense that existence precedes essence.), into a particular situation and context of historicity. To give an example, every morning I wake up knowing who I am, who my relatives, colleagues and friends are, what my social function and professional responsibility is, etc. In short, I experience myself continuous and identical with a past self; at the same time, this identity is being reinforced by the people who meet me, recognize me, and, in some sense crate who- I- am in their stories, expectations and prejudices. The lack of such an experience of identity and the shortage or even negative reinforcement of an assumed identity would create aa comical or haunting scenario as exploited in novels such as Joy Fielding’s see Jane Run. This everyday experience of continuity and assumption of identity translates into the contention that the person P exists at, and persists through diachronically diverse moments such t1, t2,t3,t4,etc. For the sake of
It is important to note Boethius’ usage of “persona “implies unity, endurance, and most importantly, rationality, thus distinguishing the essence of Mensch-sein not only from the mask that can be arbitrarily and deliberately utilized or discarded by any given actor, but also from inanimate, insensible, and irrational entities. However, it was not until the notion of the individual had developed in the thought of the Italian Renaissance the the conception of personal identity as an individual- over- time became the subject of general philosophical debate, involving eminent thinkers such as Gottfried W. Leibniz, John Locke, Hume, Joseph Butler, And Thomas Reid.( foot note- the blossoming dominance of the individualist paradigm finds its expression in Martin Luther’s sola fide, Descartes’ cogito, and the renditions of the right of the individual in the political movements during this time period.-). By …show more content…
awakening to itself , the experiential “I” , that is, the self- conscious agent, finds itself thrown, as Martin Heidegger would say, ( As Martin Srajek has pointed out to me , Heidegger does not suggests that Dasein awakens to an essence in the Neo- Platonic sense but rather privileges the experiential “I” over any persisting essence, in the sense that existence precedes essence.), into a particular situation and context of historicity. To give an example, every morning I wake up knowing who I am, who my relatives, colleagues and friends are, what my social function and professional responsibility is, etc. In short, I experience myself continuous and identical with a past self; at the same time, this identity is being reinforced by the people who meet me, recognize me, and, in some sense crate who- I- am in their stories, expectations and prejudices. The lack of such an experience of identity and the shortage or even negative reinforcement of an assumed identity would create aa comical or haunting scenario as exploited in novels such as Joy Fielding’s see Jane Run. This everyday experience of continuity and assumption of identity translates into the contention that the person P exists at, and persists through diachronically diverse moments such t1, t2,t3,t4,etc. For the sake of