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9 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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Intro |
-The question at hand is a question of personal identity over time -It asks us to explore what constitutes identity and importantly what is sufficient for making someones identity the same as they own and no one else -we must first define what a person is and then progress to explore at what stage it begins -i will present that we were not a foetus, the constitution view and psychological continuity and object with the bodily continuity arg, arguing that they need to work hand in hand |
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What is a person? |
-There are key differences between a human organism and human person -a human organism is a biological organism that begins at the implantation of the blastocyst in the utrine wall -this differs from traditional views that its formed at the moment of fertilisation (twins could result) -a person is 'wholly constituted by a human organism, without being identical to the constituting organism' Baker |
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Constitution view |
-the defining characteristic of a person is the first person perspective -this person should have 'the ability to conceive of oneself as oneself, from the inside' |
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First person perspective |
There are two forms: Robust- 'the ability to conceive of oneself as oneself' Rudimentary: 1) it has conscious 2) It has the capacity to imitate 3) Its behaviour is explainable only by the attribution of beliefs, desires and intentions -To be a person you must have one of these |
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Fetus & rudimentary FFP |
-Due to the biological knowledge from embryologists that tells us that a human fetus less than 6 months old has no more psychology than that of a vegetable, surely we can argue a foetus has no consciousness and therefore no FFP? |
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Fetus and psychological continuity |
-How do I know if I was a particular foetus? -there is no psychological continuity due to the foetus' lack of material -It only develops in the first year of life -So therefore, surely i never was a foetus? -this standard view goes against the standard intuitive view -how did i become this foetus that was in my mother and not yours? |
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But I was a foetus? |
-We must highlight the emphasis that a foetus has the potential to become an infant and therefore gain FFP -Or come to the conclusion that psychological continuity and biological continuity must work hand in hand -PC is sufficient for us to persist but it's not necessary |
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Biological and psychological continuity |
-We survive as foetus' by virtue of brute biological continuity but if your cerebrum were transplanted you would survive as the one who ended up with he organ because of her PC with you, even thought there would not be bodily continuity of the relevant sort here -sometimes our identity is in one and sometimes in the other |
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Conclusion |
-To sucesffuly answer the question of whether we were a foetus, we must take biological and psychoglical continuity hand in hand -First we survive due to biology and then due to psychological continuity |
