On 22 June 2015 at 16:35, Bruce Kellett <[email protected]> wrote:
> John Clark wrote: > >> >> After they diverge they will still both identify with the same person, >> John Clark, HOWEVER they no longer will identify with each other, and both >> would consider their life to be more important than that other fellow who >> happened to have the same name. Before they diverged things would be very >> different, there would be no other fellow, there would only be one. >> > > That is an eminently sensible statement. It accords well with the "closest > continuer" theory of personal identity. According to that theory, if there > is a tie for being the *closest* continuer, as in this case, the initial > person does not continue, but two new persons are created. If the duplicate > is identical to the original in every respect, there is only one person -- > identity of indiscernibles and all that. JC is correct, there would be no > 'other fellow'. > > Once the copy diverges from the original, there are two different (new) > persons. They may share some memories, but so what? People often share > memories. Neither is the original person. The "closest continuer" idea is wrong on many counts. Both copies consider themselves to be the original - both are wrong in your view. But if one copy was 0.1% different from the origina, that copy would not be the continuation of the original, despite thinking that he was, just a bit taller and a bit happier for the experience. On the other hand, if one copy was 1% different and the other 0.1% different, the 0.1% copy would be a continuation of the original. And if the 0.1% copy was in a coma when created, the 1% copy would be the continuer until the 0.1% copy was revived. -- Stathis Papaioannou -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
