# Personal identity



## Claudiu (Oct 28, 2011)

What are some good resources on the topic of personal identity that someone can guide me to? I'm currently reading the book _Personal Identity_ edited by John Perry for a class and would like to get some articles or books on the topic of personal identity from a Christian perspective.


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## Claudiu (Oct 31, 2011)




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## toddpedlar (Oct 31, 2011)

Claudiu said:


> What are some good resources on the topic of personal identity that someone can guide me to? I'm currently reading the book _Personal Identity_ edited by John Perry for a class and would like to get some articles or books on the topic of personal identity from a Christian perspective.



For those of us who haven't a clue what you're talking about, can you give a brief definition of "personal identity"? Is this a psychological construct or by it do you mean the philosophical term a la http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/identity-personal/?


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## Claudiu (Oct 31, 2011)

Personal Identity (in Philosophy) is concerned with:
What makes it the case that A at time t1 is the same person as B at time t2. It's identity over time as applied to persons. Sameness is taken to be numerical sameness, that is one and the same thing, and not qualitative sameness, which is merely "identical," "a replica," "a clone," "or twin." So John Locke would say that personal identity consists in memory. David Hume, on the other hand, says personal identity doesn't really exist, but is only a faulty idea we make up.


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## jwright82 (Oct 31, 2011)

I don't know of any resources on this subject at all. I would venture to guess that this issue would be affected by or involved any theory of mind. So contemporary debates on that subject might be helpful to you.


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## yoyoceramic (Oct 31, 2011)

I'm not a Keller Acolyte, but I do know he has given the issue much thought:


Finding Our Identity in Christ - 3
Tim Keller | Nov 12, 1989 | Colossians 3:12-17 | Category: Sermons
Listen
Finding Our Identity in Christ - 2
Tim Keller | Nov 05, 1989 | Colossians 3:1-4 | Category: Sermons
Listen
Finding Our Identity in Christ - 1
Tim Keller | Oct 29, 1989 | Colossians 3:1-4 | Category: Sermons
Listen


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## Tim (Oct 31, 2011)

Are you thinking of something like this:

I am Tim. A sinner. Created being. Finite. I am a man of mankind. I am a man, not a woman. A son, an uncle, nephew, and brother. Known by God, before the beginning of time. My name is written in the book of life. I am a Christian. A child of God. A brother to my Christian brothers; a brother to my Christian sisters. A saint.


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## Claudiu (Oct 31, 2011)

I'm thinking:

What makes you (now) the same person as you (were) ten years ago? 

Is it the body? No, that's a silly answer. Is it consciousness (memory)? That's what John Locke would say. Is it the soul? I think that's what Christians would say. 


Think about it like this: 

You change over time, but there is _something_ that makes you _you_. It can't be material, because that changes too often. So it has to be something immaterial. But does it consist in _some immaterial substance_ over and above memory, such as the soul? Or does it consist in some transitive consciousness that can be traced back in time to your older self?


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