Continuity Of Identity Essay

The debate on what makes a person the same person from day to day, birth to death, has still not been concluded. There is both disagreement on whether continuity of identity is even possible for a person’s whole existence and on how one can define this. Is it the continuity of their psychology (being their personality, thought processes etc.), or is it the continuity of their physical body? Could it be something else entirely? In this essay I will set out to analyse the arguments for each of these, focusing firstly on the psychological view and hence going on to discuss the counterarguments, and ultimately strive to find a conclusion on how I believe personal identity is defined and continued. The problem of what makes one a person is something …show more content…
However, there is no convincing argument as to how the soul, which just happens to be attached to the body, interacts causally with it. Why is there no evidence of this at work now we have advanced enough science to see the brain at work it moving the body? Due to the amount of belief that is required to make this view valid, it is not discussed in many works as a valid theory, as the majority of literature focuses on the prior two views. If there is such a thing as an immortal soul, it must be taken as a separate topic as if it exists after the body has perished, it would either be a way of duplicating the person in the afterlife (traditional religious views such as Christianity) or they would be an entirely different person in their next life, simply with the same karma (Buddhism) and therefore does not suit this discussion at all, but had to be mentioned due to its prominence in the minds of