Deck 11: Will You Be the Same Person in Ten Years? Could You Survive Death?

Question 1

Numerical identity, an important aspect of personal identity theory, is defined by a __________ relation.

A) reflexive
B) symmetric
C) transitive
D) All of the above

Answer 1

D

Question 2

A necessary condition that our moral and legal principles place on holding an accused person responsible and punishing him is the __________ identity of the perpetrator and the accused.

A) numerical
B) relative
C) ethical
D) psychic

Answer 2

A

Question 3

To say that something is nonmaterial means it

A) is spiritual.
B) is not made of matter.
C) cannot be understood through logic.
D) cannot be detected or studied by physics or any of the other natural sciences.

Answer 3

B

Question 4

To say that something is nonphysical means it

A) is spiritual.
B) is not made of matter.
C) cannot be understood through logic.
D) cannot be detected or studied by physics or any of the other natural sciences.

Question 5

The soul, as the seat of consciousness, is the part of us that

A) has conscious experiences.
B) is consciously aware of itself.
C) is numerically identical with the brain.
D) All of the above

Question 6

According to the soul theory, if God is going to bring you back to life many years after you die, God may link your soul to

A) the very same material body.
B) a new material body.
C) a spiritual body.
D) All of the above

Question 7

According to the soul theory, the soul is an immaterial thing that is the seat of consciousness and the part of a person that thinks. It would therefore be a major problem for it as a theory if it were determined that the

A) soul cannot be detected by scientific instruments.
B) soul cannot be conscious of itself
C) brain, a material thing, interacts with the soul, a nonmaterial thing.
D) brain is the seat of consciousness and the part of a person that thinks.

Question 8

According to soul theory, for one person to be identical to another (say, "Professor Stich" at the beginning of class and "Professor Stich" at the end of class), the two must

A) have the same memories.
B) have the same personality.
C) be connected to the same soul.
D) All of the above

Question 9

__________ held that personal identity is determined by a cluster of psychological properties, the most important of which is memory.

A) Aristotle
B) René Descartes
C) John Locke
D) Gilbert Rile

Question 10

__________ asks us to imagine the following thought experiment. There is a town in which the prince lives in a grand castle and the cobbler lives in a humble cottage. One night, the prince and cobbler each go to bed. But the prince's memories are transferred overnight to the cobbler, and the cobbler's memories are transferred to the prince.

A) Aristotle
B) René Descartes
C) John Locke
D) Gilbert Rile

Question 11

A "person stage" is

A) a short, temporal segment of the life of a person.
B) a temporal segment of a person's life defined by a change in personality.
C) a long, temporal sequence of non-person stages.
D) the entirety of a person's life.

Question 12

__________ is the term used to describe real and apparent memories.

A) R-memory
B) A-memory
C) S-memory
D) M-memory

Question 13

Which of the following criticisms has/have been raised against memory theory?

A) The supposed personal identity may be based on apparent, not real memories.
B) The memories preserving personal identity must be caused by the experiences remembered.
C) The principle of transitivity may not hold between various person stages.
D) All of the above

Question 14

Proponents of the no branching constraint argue that

A) the person stages of one's life cannot have more than one branch.
B) the person stages of one's life must be numerically identical.
C) at any given time, there can only be one branch from an earlier person stage to a later person stage.
D) at any given time, there can only be one person who is numerically identical to a person at an earlier time.

Question 15

One response to the no-branching constraint argues that numerical identity

A) is actually much less practically important than we think.
B) as a concept, can be broadened to block any counterintuitive consequences.
C) as a concept related to personal identity, begs the questions.
D) as a concept, is itself incoherent.

Question 16

Animalism claims that

A) people are defined by the animal spirits within them that give rise to consciousness, and thus personal identity.
B) people are biological organisms and the criteria for numerical identity of people are the same as the criteria for numerical identity of biological organisms.
C) "person" is a folk concept that should be discarded, having arisen from the chauvinism of the past; man is nothing more than an animal.
D) All of the above

Question 17

Life after death is seriously jeopardized if

A) the brain is related to personal identity.
B) brain continuity is sufficient for personal identity.
C) brain continuity is necessary for personal identity.
D) All of the above

Question 18

Qualitative identity obtains

A) if Objects A and B share some quality with each other.
B) if and only if Objects A and B share some quality with each other.
C) if and only if Objects A and B are very similar to each other.
D) if and only if Objects A and B are identical to each other.

Question 19

Numerically identical obtains

A) if and only if Objects A and B are the very same thing, even if they have significantly different properties.
B) if and only if Objects A and B are the very same thing, having no different properties at all.
C) when Object A is Object A.
D) when and only when Object A is Object A.

Question 20

A is a necessary condition for B if

A) everything that is B is also A.
B) and only if everything that is B is also A.
C) B is also A.
D) and only if B is also A.

Question 21

A is a necessary and sufficient condition for B if

A) A is a necessary condition for B and B is a sufficient condition for A.
B) and only if A is a necessary condition for B and B is a sufficient condition for A.
C) A is a necessary condition for B and A is a sufficient condition for B.
D) and only if A is a necessary condition for B and A is a sufficient condition for B.

Question 22

Which of the following is a transitive relation?

A) Being six feet tall
B) Being taller than
C) Having an IQ of 120
D) Having a high IQ

Question 23

Explain the soul theory of personal identity and one major objection against it.

Question 24

Explain the various versions of the memory theory of personal identity. What are their strengths and weaknesses?

Question 25

Summarize Locke's thought experiment about the prince and the cobbler. What would a soul theorist say about this case?

Question 26

Explain the no-branching constraint and the problem it poses for personal identity theories.

Question 27

Describe the animalist theory of personal identity, including its strengths and weaknesses.