Deck 6: Identity

Question 1

Did the court decide correctly in the case of Morion versus Bombos? Explain.

Answer 1

A Answer: good essay will:
• Describe the case of Morion versus Bombos.
• Evaluate the decision of the court in the case by explaining, in your own words, why you agree or disagree with this answer.

Question 2

Summarize the case of Morion versus Bombos, including the main arguments on each side and the decision in your own words.

Answer 2

No Answer

Question 3

Do you think that the elements of the Morion versus Bombos case have any application in reality? Explain.

Answer 3

No Answer

Question 4

In the story Smart describes, Morion ordered a new ship to be built for him.

Question 5

In the story Smart describes, Bombos sent his ship to be refurbished with all new parts.

Question 6

The court decided to keep the ship for itself.

Question 7

The court affirmed that a ship might be dismantled and rebuilt.

Question 8

The court held that a rebuilt ship is identical to a previously dismantled ship only if they share the same parts.

Question 9

The dispute between Morion and Bombos pertains to

A) Whether they were cheated by the Proteus brothers.
B) Whether they have to pay.
C) Whose ship remains.
D) All of the above.

Question 10

Bombos's lawyer argued that identity is established when

A) The overall form of the object is retained.
B) The object occupies a continuous space-time path
C) The identity of all the parts of the object are retained.
D) Both a and b

Question 11

Morion's lawyer argued that identity is established when

A) The overall form of the object is retained.
B) The object occupies a continuous space-time path
C) The identity of all the parts of the object are retained.
D) All of the above.

Question 12

The court reasoned that the remaining ship should belong to Bombos because

A) The burnt ship had no parts in common with Bombos's original ship.
B) Bombos's original ship was identical to the remaining ship.
C) Both a and b
D) Neither a nor b

Question 13

What is Morion's main argument for why X = Z? Is it a good argument? Explain.

Question 14

What is Bombos' main argument for why X = Y? Is it a good argument? Explain.

Question 15

Think of a different case (perhaps more realistic) that is analogous to the case of Morion versus Bombos and compare it with the case in the text.
The Problem of Personal Identity
John Perry

Question 16

What is your view about personal identity? Are we identical with our bodies? Our personality traits, memories, etc.? Some combination of the two?

Question 17

Do we normally assume that personal identity is bodily identity? Explain.

Question 18

Which interpretation of the facts of the story is best? Explain.

Question 19

Perry claims that we normally equate personal identity with bodily identity.

Question 20

According to Perry, the two descriptions of the brain transplant story cannot both be true.

Question 21

The facts of the story do not support a particular view of personal identity.

Question 22

Perry claims that it is incoherent to suppose one's brain might be transplanted into another's body.

Question 23

If personal identity is bodily identity, then

A) You do not survive the brain transplant.
B) Peter Pressher does not survive the brain transplant.
C) The brain transplant is impossible.
D) Peter Pressher does not get to vote in the senate.

Question 24

If personal identity is not bodily identity, then

A) You inhabit Peter Pressher's body.
B) There is no such thing as personal identity.
C) Peter Pressher does not survive.
D) Both a and b

Question 25

The significance of the two cases described by Perry is that

A) They settle the distinction between personal and bodily identity.
B) Brain transplants are possible.
C) Observable events do not make one case more likely than the other.
D) Both a and b

Question 26

According to Perry, the story of the brain transplant is puzzling to us because

A) Brain transplants are not yet scientifically possible.
B) It questions our assumption that a person is just a live human body.
C) Both a and b.
D) Both a and b

Question 27

Do you find one of the offered interpretations of the story more plausible? Which one, and why?

Question 28

Is it possible that neither you nor Peter survived the brain transplant? Explain.

Question 29

If your best friend showed up to class with a radically different personality and set of memories, would you still think it was him or her? Explain.
The Unimportance of Identity
Derek Parfit

Question 30

Explain what Parfit means by the bodily criterion. Is this a good way to determine personal identity? Why or why not?

Question 31

In Parfit's first case, he imagines his head transplanted onto his twin's body. Will he survive this operation? What does Parfit say about this question? What do you think? Explain your answer.

Question 32

How does Parfit's double case show that identity is not what matters? Are you convinced?

Question 33

Parfit thinks that a person exists as long as that person's body exists.

Question 34

Parfit thinks that personal identity is of great rational and moral significance.

Question 35

Parfit wants to figure out whether he would survive if his head was transplanted onto another body.

Question 36

In Parfit's double case, there are two identical people created, who are just like Parfit.

Question 37

According to Parfit, if half his brain is transplanted, the new person is not really him.

Question 38

In the double case, each of the new people created is Parfit.

Question 39

According to Parfit, the double case shows that identity is not what matters.

Question 40

According to Parfit, personal identity is widely thought to have

A) Little importance.
B) Great rational significance.
C) Great moral significance.
D) Both b and c

Question 41

The bodily criterion of personal identity says that a person exists as long as

A) That person's body exists.
B) That person's brain exists.
C) At least half of that person's brain exists.
D) The person has a similar enough body, such as a twin's.

Question 42

In Parfit's first example, he imagines his head being transplanted onto his twin's body. The main question this example is intended to provoke is

A) Would this operation be possible?
B) Would this operation be ethical?
C) Would Parfit survive this operation as the same individual?
D) Could Parfit survive with only half of his brain intact?

Question 43

When Parfit imagines his head transplanted onto his twin's body, does he think that he would still be the same person after this operation?

A) Yes.
B) No.
C) Parfit thinks there is no way to know.
D) Parfit thinks the question is unimportant.

Question 44

Which facts does Parfit think are most significant about the head transplant example?

A) The new person is the result of unnatural surgery.
B) The new person would have a body that is not Parfit's original.
C) The new person would have Parfit's memories and psychology.
D) None of the above is important to Parfit.

Question 45

What is Parfit's opinion about the bodily criterion of personal identity?

A) He agrees with it.
B) He rejects it.
C) Since he thinks personal identity is unimportant, it doesn't matter.
D) He doesn't tell us in this selection.

Question 46

What is Parfit's conclusion about the head transplant example?

A) The new person would still be Parfit.
B) The new person would not be Parfit, which is a bad thing.
C) The new person might not be Parfit, but that doesn't matter much.
D) The new person is a new and improved Parfit.

Question 47

According to the brain-based psychological criterion, a future person is me if that person has

A) Enough of my brain to be psychologically continuous with me.
B) At least half of my brain.
C) All the same brain states as me.
D) Rational and moral continuity with me.

Question 48

In Parfit's single case, what does he imagine happening?

A) His brain is transplanted into a new body.
B) Half his brain is destroyed and the other half is transplanted into a new body.
C) Each half of his brain is transplanted into a separate body, creating two new people.
D) His whole head is transplanted onto a new body.

Question 49

In Parfit's single case, what does he conclude about the new person created?

A) It doesn't matter whether the new person is Parfit.
B) It is indeterminate whether the new person is Parfit.
C) The new person created is not Parfit.
D) The new person created is Parfit.

Question 50

In Parfit's double case, what does he imagine happening?

A) Each half of his brain is transplanted into a separate body, creating two new people.
B) Half his brain is destroyed and the other half is transplanted into a new body.
C) Half his brain is transplanted into a new body and the other half is left in his own.
D) Parfit's brain is transplanted into his twin's body and his twin's into his body.

Question 51

In Parfit's double case, what does he conclude about the new people created?

A) Both new people are Parfit.
B) One of the new people is Parfit.
C) Neither of the new people is Parfit, which is bad.
D) Neither of the new people is Parfit, but that doesn't matter.

Question 52

According to Parfit, what do the single and double cases show about personal identity?

A) Personal identity depends on the brain, not on the body.
B) Personal identity is an incoherent concept that cannot be clearly defined.
C) What matters is the relationship one has to future people, not personal identity.
D) What matters is our thoughts and experiences, not personal identity.

Question 53

What do the single and double cases have in common?

A) Parfit has no relationship to the new people created in either case.
B) Parfit has the same relationship to the new people created in each case.
C) Parfit's identity survives in both cases.
D) Parfit's identity doesn't survive in either case.

Question 54

We normally think that what matters is that "I" continue to exist. Instead, Parfit thinks that what matters is that

A) At least one person continues to exist who is psychologically continuous with me.
B) As many people as possible continue to exist who are psychologically continuous with me.
C) Exactly one person continues to exist who can be described as "me."
D) Everyone has at least one sibling.

Question 55

If your head was transplanted onto someone else's body, would you still be you? Would it matter if it was a person of a different age or gender? If your brain was transplanted into a different body, would that be a different situation? Why or why not?

Question 56

Explain Parfit's single case and double case. What point is he trying to make with these stories?

Question 57

How does Parfit think we should revise our views about identity?
An Essay Concerning Human Understanding
John Locke

Question 58

Why does Locke take sameness of consciousness to be the criterion for personal identity? Do you agree? Explain.

Question 59

What is Locke's response to the objection that one can lose memories? Is it convincing? Explain.

Question 60

Is Locke's view of personal identity compatible with immortality? Explain.

Question 61

A person is an immaterial substance according to Locke.

Question 62

Locke claims that personal identity extends as far as one's consciousness.

Question 63

Locke argues that the same consciousness cannot partake of different material and immaterial substances.

Question 64

As Locke uses the terms, "person" and "man" refer to the same thing.

Question 65

Locke claims that if one forgets all of the past experiences that one had, then one is no longer the same person.

Question 66

According to Locke's view, personal identity is

A) Unimportant.
B) Sameness of body.
C) Sameness of consciousness.
D) Incompatible with the possibility of an afterlife.

Question 67

Locke accepts the implication of his view that

A) To be the same man as before one must remember the experiences of the earlier man.
B) To be the same substance as before one must remember the experiences of the earlier substance.
C) To be the same person as before one must remember the experiences of the earlier person.
D) To be the same body as before one must remember the experiences of the earlier body.

Question 68

Locke defines a person as

A) A thinking, intelligent being.
B) A being with reason and reflection.
C) A being with consciousness over time.
D) All of the above.

Question 69

Locke claims that if a prince had his consciousness transferred into the body of a cobbler, then the prince

A) Would remain the same person.
B) Would remain the same man.
C) Both a nor b
D) Neither a nor b

Question 70

Locke saw the relationship between personal identity and bodily identity as

A) Eternally connected.
B) Not connected.
C) Allowing for the immortality of the soul.
D) Both b and c

Question 71

What is a person for Locke? How does this inform his view of personal identity?

Question 72

Recount the story of the prince and the cobbler in your own words. Do you agree with Locke's assessment of it? Explain.

Question 73

What is the mention of the drunk man and the sober man supposed to show? Do you agree with Locke here?
A Treatise of Human Nature
David Hume

Question 74

What is Hume's explanation for why we think that we have an enduring self? Do you agree? Explain.

Question 75

What does Hume take the self to be? Why does he think this?

Question 76

Why does Hume think that disputes about personal identity are merely verbal?

Question 77

Hume claims that memory has nothing to do with our idea of the self.

Question 78

According to Hume, questions concerning personal identity represent genuine philosophical difficulties rather than simply disputes over grammar.

Question 79

Hume claims that we never directly observe any real connections between objects.

Question 80

Hume claims that there is no explanation for how we come to have an idea of the self.