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Sameness and the self: philosophical and psychological considerations
1Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of California Santa Barbara, CA, USA.
Frontiers in Psychology
|February 14, 2014
Summary
Understanding personal identity over time requires distinguishing the subjective feeling of sameness from the objective evidence supporting it. This research explores the philosophical and psychological challenges of diachronicity.
Area of Science:
- Philosophy of Mind
- Psychology
- Metaphysics
Background:
- Personal identity over time (diachronicity) is a long-standing philosophical problem.
- Theories grapple with how selfhood persists despite continuous physical and psychological changes.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine the concept of cross-temporal personal identity (diachronicity).
- To critically evaluate existing philosophical and psychological theories of personal diachronicity.
- To propose a novel approach to understanding the enduring self.
Main Methods:
- Review and analysis of various sameness relations and their justifying criteria.
- Examination of prominent theories, including Locke's psychological connectedness and episodic memory.
- Critique of existing theories based on logical and empirical grounds.
Main Results:
- Existing theories of personal diachronicity, such as psychological connectedness and episodic memory, are found to be logically or empirically insufficient.
- Current explanations fail to adequately address the persistence of selfhood amidst change.
Conclusions:
- A successful resolution to the problem of the self as a temporal continuant necessitates a clear distinction.
- The subjective feeling of self-sameness must be differentiated from the objective evidence supporting that feeling.
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