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). The soul theory proposes that a person is the same in the future as he is at the present time if the present and future persons both have the same soul. In other words,
             Person at T1 is the same person at T2 if and only if
             the same immaterial soul is present at T1 and T2
             Also, if a person has the same or similar psychological traits as he did in the past, then the same body which has these similar psychological traits is occupied by the same soul. In other words,
             Person at T1 is the same person at T2 if and only if
             similar psychological traits are present at T1 and T2
             Finally, the soul theory is defended by Perry's character, Sam Miller, who uses the observation of his own soul which i...