Position Paper: Personal Identity

Personal Identity

[Name of the Writer]

[Name of the Institution]

Self-consciousness is essential for Personal Identity

Introduction

Personal identity refers to self-consciousness, memory, and diversity as a faculty to facilitate the transfer of memories across soul and body. John Lock has profoundly asserted, “Everyman has a property in his person. This nobody has a right to, but himself”. It would not be wrong to say that man is intelligent and thinking being having the attributes of reflection and reasons. Consciousness of self acts as a baseline of existence because all the paradigms of faculties associated with identity are depended on the measure of responsiveness. It is the immediate knowledge of purposes and personal thoughts. In accordance with John Lock’s view on “The Self”, it can be affirmed that consciousness for self is essential for personal identity, taking into account that personal identity is actually determined by the continued subjective consciousness. It is a common statement that man is the product of his actions and self-consciousness is essential in determining the stance of identity by creating a bridge between memories that enforce perceptions.

Discussion

There are several justifications that are given in terms of “personality identity" and "self-consciousness”, taking into account that it is interesting and equally absurd.

Lockean identity

In order to understand the necessity of self-consciousness in terms of personal identity, it is essential to undergo an analysis of Lockean identity. According to him, memory of the past episodes and equip humans with a sense of personal identity, taking into account that man is the same identity as he was in the past. It is evident that a person remembers and is well known to his past relationships, and school days that plays a major role in formulating self-identity. (Hall & Richard, 2018, pp. 187-211).

Cognitive psychology and Philosophy of mind

The relationship between cognitive psychology and philosophy of mind plays a major role in determining the importance of self-consciousness in terms of personal identity. Cognitive psychology deals with the faculties of visions, language learning, and memory while consciousness is the stance of awareness adhering to the paradigms of space, time, free will and identity. This statement highlights that personal identity is actually the matter of psychological continuity; there is a natural instinct in human beings that guide them regarding the perceptions. (Robbins & Michael, 2018). Man is called an intelligent identity because of the interference of an analytical approach that is guided by consciousness. It is the stance of consciousness that guide judgments. (Sperry, et, al. 2018.pp. 219-228). John Lock has actively asserted that memory does not comprise of the similitude of body but when consciousness is brought into consideration, the past actions of an individual can be backdated that can have an effect of touching the identity of an individual. It profoundly leads to the notion of self-identity that is evaluated in terms of a series of linked memories.

Perseverance of self-identity

“Identity and Diversity” by John Lock is a clear demonstration of the fact that a self-consciousness is a major tool that can provide necessary conditions for the identification of person. It has been asserted that “all human beings have an intuitive knowledge of the existence and there is an internal infallible perception that makes an individual conscious of its own being”. (Shoemaker, et, al. 2018). It is assertive that it is the stance of consciousness that accompanies thinking. Man has the potential to shift his consciousness retaining identity. Lock quoted the example of a prince and cobbler. According to him, if the conscious of a prince is transferred into a cobbler, the cobbler will retain princely personality attributes. (Shoemaker, et, al. 2018).

Illusion and Reality

David Hume inferred that self-identity is an illusion. (Hume, pp. 331-332). According to him, there is no self that can persist through time and space. He asserted that there is a constant flux in personal identity. In contrast, Lock asserted that personal identity is the continuity of self-consciousness or memory that has a realist interference in terms of different places and time. Lock asserted that there is no existence without perception, and perceptions are guided by consciousness, adhering to the fact that consciousness can't be started without cognition. (Robbins & Michael, 2018).

Conclusion

From the above discussion it is justified that self conciseness is essential for self-identity because the shift of functionality of memory and nature has highlighted that autobiographic memory is not like a warehouse of data, in fact, it is the continuity of psychological inferences that act as a depository of events and experiences. This depository facilitates human with summarised and condensed story of life as a consistent narrative, stressing the role of self-consciousness in future perceptions.

References

Hall, Richard. "Identity." The Alienated Academic. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham, 2018. 187-211.

Hume, David. A treatise of human nature: Being an attempt to introduce the experimental method of reasoning into moral subjects. The Floating Press, 2009.

Robbins, Michael. Consciousness, language, and self: Psychoanalytic, linguistic, and anthropological explorations of the dual nature of mind. Routledge, 2018.

Shoemaker, David, and Kevin P. Tobia. "Personal identity." (2018).

Sperry, Roger W. "Consciousness, free will and personal identity 1." Brain, Behaviour, and Evolution. Routledge, 2018. 219-228.