Argument Of Body Soul And Mind

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The mind isolates us all There have been issues in the past regarding personal identity and as to what really serves personal identity? Three issues that will be shadowed upon in this text are body, soul and the mind. The issue of soul is disregarded in this context due to Weirobs question to Miller that, “if you cannot see or touch or in any way perceive my soul, what makes you think the one you are confronted with now is the very same soul you were confronted with at Dorsey’s?”(Perry, 1978 pg.329) meaning that how could one know that the person they see every day at work is the same one they saw last week? Soul can’t be smelt or touched, and therefore is taken out of the argument as what defines personal identity. Given the pending two analyses, the body and the mind, it is yet to be determined that of which will be distinguished as person identity. If someone was to trust that mind/memory is the main component that defines one personal identity, then they can most likely argue that body doesn’t classify to be personal identity, and that a body can simply be a carrier of personal identity – the mind/memory. The Alice example from the lecture that was discussed in class that Alice remembers what happened when she was 5 and then 20 years later it is the same Alice, but only now is 25 but remembers that she is Alice and her parents are the same and so are grandparents. In this statement she knows who she is and places where she has been. Also as Weirob states that, “I admit that if I remember having a certain thought or feeling had by some person in the past, then I must be that person,”(Perry, 1978 pg.336) meaning that the memory is what aparts us from our neighbour or our boss and that it is vital in considering personal identity. Now on the other hand someone on behalf of the body, being the main component of personal identity,
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