Dear all,
This coming Monday Jeremiah Joaquin will be talking to us about " The
Simple View of Personal Identity, the Possibility of Exotic Switch,
the Unknowability of the Self and the Combined Spectrum"
Monday is Anzac day, so campus will be closed. However, Jeremiah was
keen to go ahead with the paper, so here is the proposal. We will meet
at Shenkin Cafe in Erskineville - the temptation here is the very good
coffee and the very good authentic Israeli food. Assuming there's
space there, Jeremiah will deliver his paper at one of the tables in
the back and Israeli food will be provided to all. If there's no space
we'll take said food over the road to Green Bans park.
So if you're up for a fine lunch over personal identity please join us.
Abstract:
This paper explores an often neglected view in philosophical debates
about personal identity and the nature of persons. This view is simply
dubbed as the simple view of personal identity. That this is an often
neglected view is shown by the number of philosophers supporting it.
Be that as it may, it still could be characterized as a tenable
alternative theory of personal identity. The simple view is often
formulated in different ways, but amidst these varying formulations,
one main thesis could be highlighted. The thesis can be formulated as
follows: there is no substantive, informative, criterion of personal
identity. That is, it is not possible to state, in a non-trivial way,
what constitutes personal identity through time. This paper has two
main aims. First is to flesh out what this main thesis could mean, and
show what commitments it could entail. Second is to address three
objections made against the simple view: a) the exotic switch
argument, b) the unknowability of the self objection, and c) Parfit’s
combined spectrum argument.
See you all there,
Best
K
Dr. Kristie Miller
University of Sydney Research Fellow
School of Philosophical and Historical Inquiry and
The Centre for Time
The University of Sydney
Sydney Australia
Room 411, A 18
[email protected]
[email protected]
Ph: 02 93569663
http://homepage.mac.com/centre.for.time/KristieMiller/Kristie/Home_Page.html
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