Is there a self?

Hi Philosophers,

The second most popular topic was self so we'll be tackling that in this session.

Is there a self?

“In the social jungle of human existence, there is no feeling of being alive without a sense of identity.” – Robert A. Heinlein

“When I enter most intimately into what I call myself, I always stumble on some particular perception or other, of heat or cold, light or shade, love or hatred, pain of pleasure. I never can catch myself at any time without a perception, and never can observe any thing but the perception.” – David Hume

“I believe most of us have false beliefs about our own nature, and our identity over time, and that, when we see the truth, we ought to change some of our beliefs about what we have reason to do.” – Derek Parfit

The self is sometimes synonymous with being a person, but often it means something different: a sort of unchanging, immaterial subject of consciousness. Questions around personal identity and the self are those that arise by virtue of being conscious, or being moral agents, and are critical to how we think about ourselves and others.

Initially, many people appear to be drawn to the psychological continuity view - which claims that if your brain were transplanted, with your memories, desires, personality and other mental features, the resulting person would be "you". However, critics demonstrate that the stability and reliability of memory is flawed, and significant trauma can vastly change our beliefs and behaviours, thus these features don't hold up as a basis for personal identity.

Some questions to think about:
• What does it mean to be a person?
• Do we persist as the same individual over time, or are we in a perpetual state of flux?
• What is the most important aspect of your identity - memory, physical characteristics, psychological traits, sexual preference, beliefs, or something else entirely?
• Do you believe in a soul?
• Are you the same person over time? Is the child you remember being part of you?
• Is it only persons that have selves? What is the self of other beings - such as animals or AI?
• Who are you when you are asleep? Is the continuation of the physical body enough to ensure the one that wakes up is still you?
• Are their implications associated with your theory of personal identity? Did I agree to be married or was that a past self? If I don't remember the crime, should I be the one being punished?

Thought Experiment: Imagine a grand wooden ship - The Ship of Thesus. Every time she sails there are repairs that occur and some of her planks are replaced. After several years, there comes a point where every piece of the original ship has been replaced. Has she become a different ship?

Thought Experiment: Suppose there is a teleportation device that disassembles your body at one location, transmits the information to another location, and reassembles an exact copy of you. Are you still the same person after the teleportation process, or did you die and get replaced by a copy? What happens if an accidental copy is created, is that also you?

Crash Course Philosophy on Personal Identity
Personal Identity: Crash Course Philosophy #19 - YouTube

David Hume's theory of the self
PHILOSOPHY - David Hume (youtube.com)