Personal Identity: Philosophical Views

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the preceding definition of body theory is not
sufficient, since it does not account alterations to the same body. Yet another
problem is numerical. If someone were to get a finger chopped off, would that
finger be considered another person? What if a scientist was to use someone's
DNA and replicate another person with the same body? Surely just because there
are two identical bodies, these bodies cannot be the same person. They would
live two different lives. Therefore, the body theory alone cannot be considered
a necessary and sufficient definition when defining personal identity.
Another common theory of personal identity is the soul theory. This
theory is: a person is has personal identity if and only if they have the same
soul. The problem with this theory is arrived from the definition of a soul.
Soul is a very difficult term. It is thought by many to be a spirit that passes
from your body into another realm (i.e., heaven, hell, etc.). However, since ...

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of a personal identity. It is analogous to Descartes' cogito, "I
think therefore I am." Being conscious would mean knowing that one exists, and
able to think about any experience that happens. However the main fault with
this is that it is a circular definition. We are using the definiens in the
definiendum which is not a good tactic of defining personal identity. Next, a
common derivative of the consciousness theory is the consciousness of
experiences theory. This is defined as having the same experiential content.
This theory is based upon Locke's theory of the mind being blank, and building
from experiences. One would have personal identity because only one being ...

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