What Is The Difference Between Brain And Identity

The Division of a Brain If a brain was to be divided in half and transplanted into two brainless bodies, the original person would survive as two different people, but the original person would not be identical to them. Identity as a whole is one and in one brain and one body, if divided part of the original person will be in each of the two bodies. The original person would not be considered to be either of them, but a part of the original person continues in them as they develop their own identity. This continuity might be through memory and thoughts that the resulting individuals carry with them. It is impossible for the whole identity to survive in two different bodies, even if they have half of the original person’s brain …show more content…
Let’s say that both people do survive and by surviving Parfit suggest that “If ‘survive’ implies identity,…you cannot be two people.” (Perry, 354) You cannot be two people with the same identity, but you can survive as two different people, perhaps with some sort of relation. The two resulting people can have a relation to the original person, but if surviving is connected with identity then the two resulting people will be different from each other. Survival without identity implies that the two resulting people will be different, because identity is what makes them similar. “Identity is all-or-nothing.” (Perry. 357) According to Parfit identity is a one on one connection and that’s what matters in identity. Unless another factor is involved in this case the two resulting people in different bodies. “Most of the relations which matter in survival are, in fact, relations of degree.” (Perry, 357) The only way the two resulting people can have a relation to the original person is through ‘psychological continuity’, which is “casual continuity” according to Parfit. The two resulting people can have psychological continuity of the original person, but not the original person’s identity. “…sameness of the body is necessary for identity.” (Perry, 358) The two resulting people are now in two distinct bodies …show more content…
One way is through memory, by remembering aspects of the original person’s life experience or memories. This is done through “q-memory”, which according to Parfit it is a “new concept for which this is not a logical truth.”(Perry, 358) According to Parfit we can only remember our own experiences this being a logical truth, but if the two resulting people have q-memories about the original person’s life this does not precisely mean that they are the original person. “I am not sure whether it was I who heard it, or the original person.” (Perry, 359) This implies that even if the resulting people have such q-memories, they question if those memories are theirs or memories of the original person. Both of the two resulting people “…will have different characteristics, different desires, and different intentions.” (Perry, 360) Even if the two resulting people are completely different from each other and from the original person, they will always have a psychological continuity of the original person within