The Bundle Theory By Derek Parfit
Derek Parfit states, “it is an empty question whether the resulting person would be you.” (384) With this statement, Parfit means that we could know the result of what just happened without answering the question. There is only one outcome that is being considered. According to the Bundle theory we cannot explain consciousness by examining a person. The answer is instead in a long series of mental states and different situations. In these different series we experience life through thoughts and sensations. Each life situation or experience is put together by various kinds of perception that we have in our thoughts or some sort of mental sensation. This theory gets its named because each experience is like a “bundle” tied up with one string.
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Simply put, the Ego Theory says that all our life experiences are being experienced by the same person, which unifies our life memories. The Bundle Theory rejects this view. An Ego Theorist would not agree that the question is an empty one. An Ego Theorist believes that someone’s experiences are gathered through personal experiences (situations or past events). The person who had these specific experiences is their own unique person and no one can be exactly like that specific person. Parfit believes people are like clubs because the identity of a person is analogous to the identity of a club over time. The analogy of people as clubs is this: people join and leave clubs, just as… The club has meetings for awhile, then the meetings stop. A few years later a new club is made, but this club has the same name and the same rules. The big question being considered in this analogy is whether the people revived this club or did they create their own club, which is exactly similar. People are the same way, according to Parafit. If half a person’s cells were replaced over time with exact duplicates, that same person would call the duplicate them self. This analogy is a natural fit for the bundle theory because the bundle theory states that a person forms relations only
Simply put, the Ego Theory says that all our life experiences are being experienced by the same person, which unifies our life memories. The Bundle Theory rejects this view. An Ego Theorist would not agree that the question is an empty one. An Ego Theorist believes that someone’s experiences are gathered through personal experiences (situations or past events). The person who had these specific experiences is their own unique person and no one can be exactly like that specific person. Parfit believes people are like clubs because the identity of a person is analogous to the identity of a club over time. The analogy of people as clubs is this: people join and leave clubs, just as… The club has meetings for awhile, then the meetings stop. A few years later a new club is made, but this club has the same name and the same rules. The big question being considered in this analogy is whether the people revived this club or did they create their own club, which is exactly similar. People are the same way, according to Parafit. If half a person’s cells were replaced over time with exact duplicates, that same person would call the duplicate them self. This analogy is a natural fit for the bundle theory because the bundle theory states that a person forms relations only