What’s So Simple About Personal Identity?
Joshua Farris asks what you find when you find yourself.
In other words, as I interpret it, “I” is not reducible down to the body or to the brain, or to a particular set of memories, or to a personality, or to a character. Instead it is embodied in the manner in which they all somehow come together from day to day to produce a “perspective”. I think this, I feel that, I choose this, I do that.
Basically, the manner in which most of us think about “I” in the world around us for all practical purposes. Given some measure of autonomy.
And we can think of it this way until someday, someone actually is able to demonstrate why the whole package is reducible down to a specific factor above.
And, in the interim, it still comes down to that which we are in fact able to demonstrate to others is [existentially] the most rational way in which to think, feel, say or do…anything.
There’s no getting around circularity here because however you explain human identity, you come back to certain assumptions you make which are not able to be either verified or falsified definitively. And this must be the case or there would already be an explanation out there that accomplishes precisely that.
Though, sure, if you think there is one, link it to us.