Ego Theory Vs Bundle Theory Essay

In this essay, I will first define the Ego and Bundle theories, set up their differences, make a case for why I believe the Bundle Theory is more successful than the Ego theory, and lastly, explain why the Bundle Theory, if true, would radically change the way we see and understand ourselves. The Ego Theory, simply stated, is the view that explains the continuity of a person as the continued existence of a particular ego or subject. Examples of what these particular egos could include physical beings, psychological beings, or even spiritual beings. The goal is to find out what sort of beings we are, in order answer other ethical and ontological questions about people. What is so attractive about the Ego Theory is that there is a sense of unity that the subject provides: “what explains the unity of a person’s whole life is the fact that all of the experiences in this life are had by the same person, or subject of experiences” (20). It asserts that we are some sort of subject, and once we find out what that subject is, we will know our identity. From this point, a lot of debate and divergence
The Bundle Theory claims, “we can’t explain either the unity of consciousness at any time, or the unity of a whole life by referring to a person” (20). In other words, the main difference between the Bundle Theory and the Ego Theory is whether or not a subject is responsible for the unity of a person’s life. The Bundle theorist would claim that its various kinds of causal relations are responsible for unifying the series of experiences in a life. There is no subject involved in the Bundle Theory, and all we are is a series of experiences causally related, tied up like a bundle. The Bundle Theory negates the Ego Theory and places the burden on the Ego Theorist to prove that a subject of all our experiences