Subscribe to get Part 2 of this episode in its entirety. Citizens can get the second part here. Mark, Wes, Dylan, Seth cover more of the thought experiments and other arguments from Parfit's Reasons and Persons (1984), ch. 10-13. We consider more closely Bernard Williams' response to Parfit and how Parfit turns that argument back on itself. In defending physicalism Continue Reading …
Ep. 261: Derek Parfit on Personal Identity (Part One)
Subscribe to get Part 2 of this episode, or listen to a preview. Citizens can get the entire second part here. On Reasons and Persons (1984), ch. 10-13, featuring Mark, Wes, Dylan and Seth. What makes a person the same over time? Parfit used Locke as a starting point: It's a matter of continuity of memory: I am the same person as my younger self because there are Continue Reading …
Ep. 261: Derek Parfit on Personal Identity (Part Two for Supporters)
Continuing on Reasons and Persons (1984), ch. 10-13. Continuing from where we left off, we consider more closely Bernard Williams' response to Parfit and how Parfit turns that argument back on itself. In defending physicalism against Lockean memory conceptions of personal identity, Williams presented a situation in which you're about to undergo some torture. I tell you that Continue Reading …
Ep. 261: Derek Parfit on Personal Identity (Part One for Supporters)
On Reasons and Persons (1984), ch. 10-13, featuring Mark, Wes, Dylan and Seth. What makes a person the same over time? Parfit used Locke as a starting point: It's a matter of continuity of memory: I am the same person as my younger self because there are overlapping chains of memory. Even if I and earlier me don't share any specific memories (Locke's actual criterion), Continue Reading …
Ep. 259: Locke Clarifies Misleading Complex Ideas (Part Two)
More on Book II (ch. 22-33) of John Locke's Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1689), discussed by Mark, Wes, and Dylan. On relations, then personal identity, with more on substances (spiritual and material), the various ways in which ideas can go wrong, and how mental association can entrench irrationality that disrupts clear thinking. Listen to part one first, or get Continue Reading …
Ep. 259: Locke Clarifies Misleading Complex Ideas (Citizen Edition)
On Book II (ch. 22-33) of John Locke's Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1689), discussed by Mark, Wes, and Dylan. Simple ideas (as discussed in ep. 258) get complex rather quickly, perhaps as soon as you put them into words, and certainly as soon as you put them into a system. If I perceive the color blue, or a passing thought in my mind, a simple idea of this appears Continue Reading …
No Self, but a Subject?
At one time in Savatthi, the venerable Radha seated himself and asked of the Blessed Lord Buddha: “Anatta, anatta I hear said, Venerable. What, pray tell, does Anatta mean?” “Just this, Radha, form is not the self (anatta), sensations are not the self (anatta), perceptions are not the self (anatta), assemblages are not the self (anatta), consciousness is not the self (anatta). Continue Reading …
Sharing a Mind
This fascinating New York Times Magazine articles tells the story of conjoined twins Krista and Tatiana, who share part of their brains; specifically, there is a bridge of neural tissue joining their thalami. The thalamus is something like a switchboard for routing sensory information. While the twins have two distinct minds and personalities, each can see and feel the Continue Reading …