Philosophy: Mind Notes
The Mind
Locke
The notion of personhood was introduced by Locke. For him the stream/continuity of consciousness defines a person. In other words the memory, since being conscious of something implies remembering it. When someone is drunk and is not co
Locke diverted from the traditional understanding of the self. In dualism it is the soul, which is conscious of what he is doing, then he will not remember the event. Thus whilst being unconscious of something, one is not a person. constant and eternal, which defines one’s identity. However, he does not fully depart from that idea, since he was still a religious man and believed in a soul, although for him the soul has nothing to do with personhood.
Criticisms of Locke
Reid claims that the same memory does not mean the same person. If two people had the same memory, they would not be the same person. This could be an argument in favour of qualia and the body.
Flew says a greater emphasis should be put on the body, saying that people do not talk to ‘consciousnesses in caves of flesh’.
Butler argues that Locke’s argument is circular, since he claims that a person is conscious, and because it is conscious, she is a person.
However, Parfit goes back to Locke in terms that the body is irrelevant, since in case of epilepsy treatment, something in the brain is cut which makes either side of the brain control either side of the body rather than jointly, and yet, although their body is not united, they are one and the same person.
Hume
Hume extends Locke by creating the ontological theory which states that the object consists exclusively of a collection (or bundle) of properties, relations or tropes (attribute) – Bundle Theory. Any object is defined entirely by its properties. E.g. If you think about an apple you automatically think about its properties, its colour, its shape, its origin, its taste etc – thus one can say that the apple is nothing more than these properties. There is no substance. The same
Locke
The notion of personhood was introduced by Locke. For him the stream/continuity of consciousness defines a person. In other words the memory, since being conscious of something implies remembering it. When someone is drunk and is not co
Locke diverted from the traditional understanding of the self. In dualism it is the soul, which is conscious of what he is doing, then he will not remember the event. Thus whilst being unconscious of something, one is not a person. constant and eternal, which defines one’s identity. However, he does not fully depart from that idea, since he was still a religious man and believed in a soul, although for him the soul has nothing to do with personhood.
Criticisms of Locke
Reid claims that the same memory does not mean the same person. If two people had the same memory, they would not be the same person. This could be an argument in favour of qualia and the body.
Flew says a greater emphasis should be put on the body, saying that people do not talk to ‘consciousnesses in caves of flesh’.
Butler argues that Locke’s argument is circular, since he claims that a person is conscious, and because it is conscious, she is a person.
However, Parfit goes back to Locke in terms that the body is irrelevant, since in case of epilepsy treatment, something in the brain is cut which makes either side of the brain control either side of the body rather than jointly, and yet, although their body is not united, they are one and the same person.
Hume
Hume extends Locke by creating the ontological theory which states that the object consists exclusively of a collection (or bundle) of properties, relations or tropes (attribute) – Bundle Theory. Any object is defined entirely by its properties. E.g. If you think about an apple you automatically think about its properties, its colour, its shape, its origin, its taste etc – thus one can say that the apple is nothing more than these properties. There is no substance. The same