Goal

Students will be able to form a belief on what consists personal identity and be able to create counter-arguments for their stance

Learning Tools

slips of paper

Three common views on personal identity are that personal identity consists of a soul, a physical body, or persisting memory.

Soul: “What is it that, when present in a body, makes it living? — A soul.”--Socrates

Physical body: Thompson says that we are our bodies. Ayer thinks that our identity through time consists in the identity of the body.

Persisting memory: Locke thinks that a person is someone that can have self reflection and thinks over time.

3 minutes Ask the students to write down whether they think personal identity is based off of the soul, persisting memory, or a physical body.

5 minutes Ask the students to go around and share their initial thoughts on the matter.

10 minutes Have students ask each other questions about their stance on personal identity.

12 minutes Ask students to defend an alternate view to the one they initially put down.

5 minutes Go around in a circle and share if their initial ideas changed over the course of the conversation.

These should be used as conversation starters

re: body

Ship of Theseus
Most of the cells that are in your body now weren’t there when you were a tiny baby. You grew lots of teeth and lost them, you grew lots of hair and had lots of haircuts, you ate lots of food and built new muscle and bone and tissue. Are you still the same person?
In a Freaky Friday situation, who are you?

re: memory

Say your mind (thoughts, preferences, memories) is downloaded onto a computer, are you now on that computer?
If you are in a coma, are you still you? Dementia?
If you are asleep, are you still you? You do not have the same memory as when you are awake.
If you do not remember your actions (you’re blackout drunk) did you act?
mind-body problem. isn’t your mind = your brain = your body?

re: soul