Summary Of The Psychological Criterion By Derek Parfit

In “The Psychological Criterion”, Derek Parfit tests the definition of identity by analyzing metaphysical hypotheticals, and presents the theory of psychological continuity. Faced with the issue of defining identity, Parfit seems to prefer the psychological continuity theory, seeing that it excludes the least amount of scenarios which fall outside the category of narrower theories. The psychological continuity theory stands as a revision to Locke’s experience-memory theory, which states A is identical to B years later if B there exist “direct memory connections” of being A - therefore, if B lacks memory of being A, then they were not the same people. However, there lay a few inconsistencies within this theory, as illuminated by the sophisticated forgetting objection. …show more content…
Following the logic of the experience-memory theory, the general’s childhood self was not him. Parfit’s psychological continuity holds as a solution to the objection, and states that A is identical to B if they hold “overlapping chains of strong connectedness”. Regarding the previous example through this lens, if the general possesses memories of adolescence, and his adolescent self possessed memories of childhood, then by the transitive property the general would also be his childhood self. Furthermore, if there exists only a single connection between X and Y, then they would not prove to be the same person even with the transitive revision. Therefore, Parfit includes other psychological connections besides memories, such as intentions, beliefs, desires, and characteristics to bridge the two