ST201 The Anatomy Lesson and Personal Identity

Locke and Parfit on personal identity

The memory theory, the objections to it, and Parfit's claim that identity is not what matters.

About 180 minutes.

Reading for this lesson

Required An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, Book II, chapter 27, "Of Identity and Diversity" John Locke Book II, chapter 27

The founding text. Short, and the prose is manageable.

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Required Reasons and Persons Derek Parfit Part Three, chapters 10 and 11 at minimum

Hard. Read for the thought experiments and the conclusion.

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