Personal Identity

Introduction

At the most basic level, personal identity can be defined as a self-description of highly specific details and experiences. Personal identity can also be defined as a set of traits and characteristics that are assigned to a particular person. Conventional definitions of personal identity, such as those offered by scholar Erving Goffman, suggest that personal identity is concerned with what makes an individual distinct from other individuals. When viewed in this way, personal identity is tied to individual autonomy and the values, qualities, attributes, and personality characteristics that make the individual unique. A more philosophical rendering is offered by Dennett, who defines personal identity as the philosophy of our own strict survival (Taylor, 101-110).

Some of the earliest philosophical questions related to personal identity center on what makes it possible to persist over time and through changes. For example, scholars such as Unger are interested in what is involved when a person survives from the present time to some future time. Another question that has emerged relates to the possibility of establishing a set of criteria or conditions that define personal identity and allow a person to persist from one time to another. A third question that has emerged is whether a list of conditions or characteristics can be used to define a person's personal identity. Differing perspectives have emerged that attempt to address these three similar, yet slightly different, central questions. Scholars differ on what constitutes a personal identity and how the identity persists over time and through changes. For example, scholars disagree whether personal identity should be connected to psychological or bodily criterion and the specific conditions that constitute personal identity. Scholars also disagree about whether there is a sense of consistency over time or whether personal identities are always evolving (Layder, 55-66).

Differing conceptions of personal identity result in a variety of approaches to engaging personal identity, including philosophical, psychological, biological, and narrative. A philosophical approach considers personal identity and conscious experiences as topics of metaphysics. Metaphysics has been defined as any inquiry that raises questions about reality that lie beyond or behind those capable of being tackled by the methods of science. John Locke's theory of personal identity and the connection to metaphysics and psychology offers a foundational philosophical perspective of personal identity. His Essay Concerning Human Understanding from 1694 ties personal identity to continuity of consciousness. Locke does not agree that personal identity resides with the soul; rather, he moves to consciousness. Consciousness is what allows the identity of a person to persist over time. Locke also defines personal identity in terms of memory. For example, Locke's view of personal identity is tied to the individual's ability to recall experiences from memory. His memory theory of personal identity defines identity in terms of linked memories. Personal identity relies on one's ability to recall past experiences (Taylor, 101-110).

Discussion

Scholars who identify with a philosophical approach tend to also tread closely to a psychological approach. According to Dennett, a psychological approach to personal identity suggests that the key to ...