Philosophy of Mind, Part 5: Agency & Identity

Warm Greetings to Plato's Cave Members,

You are invited to join us virtually from wherever you are this Sunday morning, Sept. 7, 2025 at 9:00, for our Plato's Cave forum.

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TITLE: Philosophy of Mind

DESCRIPTION
Philosophy of mind explores the nature of consciousness, our personal thoughts, and our mental states. In addition, how does the mind relate to the body, and how are we affected by life experience? One of the pillars of this topic is understanding what causes us to act: how our desires, beliefs, intentions, and emotions translate into physical behavior. We will review both ancient and modern ideas in this series of 7 dialogues.

Part 5: Agency & Identity

This week, we explore agency and identity. What makes you ‘you’? And do you stay mostly the same over time? Philosophy of Mind adds authenticity and personal narrative to the mix. We will also include the ideas of Derek Parfit on personal identity.

To examine this area from another point of view, the Wikipedia page on Self-Determination Theory (SDT) mentions it is a “...basic psychological needs theory which proposes three basic psychological needs that must be satisfied to foster well-being and health. These three psychological needs of autonomy, competence, and relatedness are generally universal (i.e., apply across individuals and situations).” We will also include ideas from Richard Ryan and Edward Deci on the human tendency for growth, learning, development and psychological wellbeing.

This will be a fascinating discussion, and we hope you can join us Sunday!

READING

Article on Agency and ‘Agentic’ (short article)
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/getting-proactive/202203/agency-is-the-highest-level-personal-competence

Derek Parits on Personal Identity (long article, optional)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derek_Parfit#Personal_identity

Overview of Self-Determination Theory (read section on SDT)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-determination_theory#Basic_psychological_needs

Article on Self-Determination Theory (incl. Ryan and Deci, long article, optional)
https://positivepsychology.com/self-determination-theory/

Hosted by:

Plato's Cave
https://www.meetup.com/PlatosCave/

And

Orlando Stoics
https://www.meetup.com/orlando-stoics/

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SIGN UP TO PRESENT A FUTURE TALK OR VOLUNTEER FOR THE FORUM INTRODUCTION PANEL:
Please submit a relevant discussion subject to Steve (organizer) or Dan that you would like to introduce for a future discussion. The introduction should be about 15 minutes. You may also volunteer to be a member of the Forum Introduction Panel. Potential presenters should participate in the topic selection (meets immediately following Sunday's previous forum), contribute content ideas, and suggest reading or source material.

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Organizer of Philosophy Meetups
StoicDan.com
407-327-7000
https://www.meetup.com/Orlando-Stoics/