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Personal Identity

            
             One of the most deeply contemplated questions that philosophy has asked is where a person's identity comes from. Identity is truly the fundamental quality of a human being. A philosopher can immortalize himself by discovering a solid answer to the question. Many times, hypothetical situations or scenarios (some more realistic then others) are brought up to help prove or disprove a view. In some cases, they serve merely as "brain fuel". They help to promote constructive and profound thinking on the subject. The case of having one's body and brain completely replaced with different materials while maintaining the exact memories brings up some heated issues. .
             In John Perry's "A Dialogue on Personal Identity and Immortality", Perry uses the characters Miller and Cohen to advance the point that the new being is the same person. They argue by way of the Memory Theory. Let's assume that I am an advocate of the Memory Theory temporarily. If I am ever in the situation described I will take the transporter because I believe that the person who survives will be me. This is true because I will have all of the same memories as I did before. The fact that my memories constitute my identity can be shown in several ways. First off, I have memories of myself that are completely unique from memories of other people. For instance, if I remember being on a roller coaster with a friend, I can remember the actual feelings of intense fear and exhilaration that I had during the ride. My memories of my friend, on the other hand, are much more impersonal. No matter how hard I try to anticipate his feelings and what it was like to be him at the time, my memories can go no further then to give me a picture of my friend being afraid and exhilarated. This shows the intimacy between the memories and myself. It is this "stream of consciousness" that forms an identity. The long history of memories and my intimate relationship with them make me who I am.


Essays Related to Personal Identity

1. The Criminality of Identity Theft

Abstract Identity theft is the unlawful usage of a person's identifies to gain access to their personal information, such as social security, credit card information and date of birth. ... What is identity theft? "Identity theft is a crime in which an imposter obtains key pieces of personal information, such as social security numbers in order to impersonate someone else" (Kirk, D. 2014). ... Identity theft has become a fact of life, to avoid becoming a victim, protect your personal information, monitor your banks accounts and credit report, and respond immediately to any signs of yo...

  • Word Count: 2177
  • Approx Pages: 9
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: High School

2. Personal Identity

Being Caucasian, or white, as it is commonly referred to, my culture plays a key role in the development of who I am and what I do, my personal identity. ... Location is one of the key factors of this culturally developed personal identity. ... However, having lived in California for, now, 6 years, my personal identity has transformed because of this change in location. Now, my personal identity is still based upon the beliefs that I attained in Kansas, but is also instilled into the beliefs I have learned while living in California. ... There is no doubt that the move to California changed my...

  • Word Count: 308
  • Approx Pages: 1

3. Personal identity

The task of personal identity is to define a quality of a human, which makes him or her a unique self. Emotions like remorse and pride presuppose a personal identity that persists through time. ... What are the conditions of personal identity and could they extend across the point of death? ... We always talk about the body while talking about identity but maybe we are not aware about how crucially brain is also involved in personal identity. ... But according to me the best solution to the problem of personal identity is that it is too complex to be answerable and the best way is to just fi...

  • Word Count: 1272
  • Approx Pages: 5

4. Identity Theft and Precautions to Take

Identity theft is a crime where a victim's personal, identifying information such as name, address, date of birth, social security number, and other financial information is stolen to make purchases or services.... In most common cases, victim's identity are stolen through personal computer which lacks of firewalls and low internet securities. ... It is clear that identity thieves are always a head in their plan. ... Users are recommended not to save any financial information like logins, passwords, account number, and important personal identity information in the cellphones or e...

  • Word Count: 1004
  • Approx Pages: 4
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

5. Erikson and Identity Crisis

The well-used term "identity crisis," originates from Erik Erikson's fifth stage, identity versus confusion, in his eight stages of epigenetic personality development. ... This suggests that a large proportion of adolescents do not complete the identity formation process during Erikson's identity versus confusion stage. ... Additional cross-cultural research (Taylor and Oskay, 1995) investigated the relationship between personal autonomy, identity status and self-esteem in Turkish and American adolescents. ... Further results identified that parental authoritarianism and conflic...

  • Word Count: 784
  • Approx Pages: 3
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: Graduate

6. Creating Personal Identities

She writes about a couple of individuals who are dealing with questions of control over the construction of their personal identity as they try to relate their personal desires to outside social forces. ... The beliefs and the personality of an individual is reflected on their personal identity. Bell gives examples of Jayanthi and Alicia who stand against their cultural norms to follow their personal desires of having the identity they choose to have. ... Citadel had constructed a new identity for every cadet. ... Jayanthi and Alicia created their identities from their own preferences whereas ...

  • Word Count: 1904
  • Approx Pages: 8
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

7. Expository Essay - Cultural Identity

Cultural identity has a significant function in every individual's lives. It is an effective factor in shaping one's identity and molds us. ... Culture identity is defined as one's own personal sense of culture. ... Each individual possesses his or her own unique identity and culture. ... I will also include my own experiences of cultural identity. ...

  • Word Count: 1341
  • Approx Pages: 5
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: High School

8. Visual Art and Internet Visual Identity System

The history and development of Visual Identity System and Corporate Identity System will first be present. ... A. (1997) Visual culture: an introduction 1.The history of Visual Identity System and Corporate Identity System 1.1 The birth of Corporation Identity System and Visual Identity System Before Corporate Identity design first arose in 1950's, we can only speak about brands design. ... Brand communication was just in the beginning due to low level of mass communication media, and the most effective communication channel had been personal recommendations ...

  • Word Count: 2028
  • Approx Pages: 8
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

9. Identity

The Color Purple and The Joy Luck Club portray a similar theme, because female main characters experience personal misfortunes and male/female relationships which ultimately lead to the discovery of their true identity. One of the main characters, Celie, in The Color Purple experiences many personal misfortunes which eventually lead to the discovery of her true identity. ... Finally, the third example of a personal misfortune Celie suffers through, to find her true identity, is the separation of Celie from her sister, Nettie. ... One personal misfortune Jing-Mei experienced was never ful...

  • Word Count: 3758
  • Approx Pages: 15
  • Grade Level: High School

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