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Meeting ID: 813 1922 5813 Passcode: 254322
John Locke presented a novel and sophisticated theory of personal identity in the second edition of his great work “An Essay concerning Human Understanding,” in which he separated the issue of personal identity from that of the identity of substance or the identity of human being. I believe Locke’s psychological approach to personal identity is still the most reasonable theory, despite many powerful objections to it. I will focus particularly on “the Fatal Error” challenge, which is concerned with the possibility of having another person’s conscious experience as one’s own. The prospect of conscious minds in the cloud makes this case more pertinent to our contemporary life, and the issue of personal identity becomes a more serious concern. In the meantime, I will discuss some deflationary theories of personal identity such as those of Parfit and Buddhism. I think that the notion of personal identity is still important and necessary, not only for forensic purposes but also for self-narrative.
Dr. Weimin Sun is a Professor of Philosophy at California State University Northridge. Dr. Sun had a B.A. and a M.A. (both in Philosophy: Mathematical Logic) from Beijing University, and a Ph.D. from the University of Connecticut (2003). His primary research interests are in Philosophy of Science, Chinese Philosophy, Philosophy of Mind, and Modern Philosophy.
