On Personal identity
At various times, characters in Perry's Dialogue defend the immaterial soul, the body, and psychological connections as the key to understanding personal identity. Each of these theories is provided as a means to reject or defend survival after death. The immaterial soul theory argues that personal identity is found in the soul which is distinct from the body. The survival of a person depends on whether the soul survives. The body theory claims that personal identity is just bodily identity. The memory theory (psychological connections) makes the case that personal identity is associated with person stages which are appropriately connected by memory. This paper will further explain the immaterial soul theory and how it supports the view of survival after death. I will then consider objections to this theory and respond to these objections. The soul is a non-physical substance. Because it is non-physical, it has no sense-based qualities, but rather symptoms such as consciousness. It is this non-physical substance which is the true self. According to Robert Langbaum, author of The Mysteries of Identity: A Theme in Modern Literature1, identity is the sameness of a person or thing at all times or in all circumstances (25
Weirob says "I grant you that a single person has been associated with your body since you were born. These are all qualitative states that are also symptoms of the soul. 25-27 ------------------------------------------------------------------------**Bibliography**. Because the soul is immaterial, it requires the material body in order to be in a material world. Miller was making a judgement about what was inside from what was on the outside just as he does with a person's soul. The objection to the observation of a single body and soul supporting what is true of all bodies and souls is that a person would not be able to know if their body has only been inhabited by a single soul. You cannot see or touch a belief, desire, hope, or memory. Another objection is that it is possible that the body may not always be occupied by the same soul. Even when the cloud changes into a gray puffy-like substance, we still recognize it as a cloud. It is just one body with many souls. This would support the view of survival after death because when the body dies, the soul will just transfer to a different body. It is because of the soul that we are able to survive death because it is timeless. The question is whether one immaterial soul has been so associated - or more precisely, whether you are in a position to know it" (16). Weirob says that "since you can never, so to speak, bite into my soul, you can never see or touch it, you have no way of testing your hypothesis that sameness of body means sameness of self" (11). Could the white or gray color exist without the cloud or some other substance for it to be a property? If co!nsciousness is a symptom of the soul, could you imagine the consciousness existing without the soul or some other form for it to be a property? Also, consciousness and psychological traits are also intangible like the soul.
Common topics in this essay:
Gretchen Weirob,
Perry's Dialogue,
Modern Literature1,
T1 T2,
Sam Miller,
Person T1,
T2 Finally,
soul theory,
University Press,
immaterial soul,
,
psychological traits,
personal identity,
Robert Langbaum,
occupied soul,
soul body,
survival death,
body occupied,
similar psychological,
similar psychological traits,
mysteries identity theme,
person t2,
identity theme modern,
view survival death,
soul words person,
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Acceptance Essays
