Views On Personal Identity: John Locke Versus Rene Descartes

Through the years, philosophers have contemplated human existence and debated on controversial issues. An example of this is ideas that deal with the mind and body. Some believe the two are separate entities entirely while others believe they are the same. Based off of these thoughts, an idea of one’s self is generated. However, before the idea is formed, one must have an understanding of personal identity. From this, the debate is where the personal identity is located. As stated earlier, some believe personal identity can be found in the body, and, chances are, they will also argue the personal identity will experience little to no change as time passes and the person matures. To contrast, others might say one’s personal identity is in the mind, and it’s composed of the person’s thoughts and experiences. John Locke and Rene Descartes are two of the world’s most renowned philosophers who are notorious for their views on personal identity and its extent of existence. Each of these philosophers tackled the idea of a human’s sense of self, and they concluded the mind and body are separate from each other. However, their philosophies do have disagreements. Descartes way of thinking is one that is centered around thinking. He believed that, ultimately, personal identity stemmed from thinking, and he concluded the mind is non-physical; meaning it is distinct from the body. On the other hand, Locke’s ideas regarded a person’s “self” as being based on the memories a person has and experiences. Rene Descartes ideas are widely considered to be the birth of modern philosophy due to rationalist thinking coming from them. One of these ideas, and perhaps the most famous, is evident through his statement, “I think, therefore I am.” This statement would go on to make Descartes one of the most famous philosophers in history, and it became the cornerstone of his philosophical thoughts, including those on personal identity. Descartes arrived at this conclusion through meditation. During his meditations, Descartes would think about the essence of his existence and purpose in life. Descartes wanted to disregard his knowledge and all things he considered to be true so that he could start with a clean slate in his new revelations and truths. Many times, he would ask himself, “What am I?” Descartes sought out to understand the “I” he was referring to in the question, and he wondered if he could consider anything to be true, since “I” was thinking about it. This idea created a problem for Descartes since he didn’t fully understand the “I”. When considering the “I”, Descartes was able to quickly separate the mind and body. This conclusion was reached through a few different thoughts. The first was a thought that came to him “spontaneously and naturally”, and that was the body. Descartes acknowledges he has a body when he says he indeed has, “a face, hands, arms”. His distinction between the mind and body was made later when he goes on to say he has, “the whole structure of bodily parts that corpses also have”. Corpses are dead beings, so what he’s saying in this statement is that the mind is the only thing that separates him from corpses. This is a rather strong argument for Descartes because corpses have body parts, but they do not breathe, experience emotion or felling, or think. Descartes attempts to clear any confusion by calling the physical structure of one’s being “the body”. Because of this thought, Descartes is now able to probe the idea of what separates those who are living from the lifeless beings he referred to earlier. Descartes thinking did not stop here. He goes on to say that in addition to his body, he is able to perform actions such as eating and drinking. Descartes argues that, on its own, the body won’t do such things. This idea is supported, once again, through reference to the corpses. Descartes says without compulsions such as these, there is no difference between a living being and a corpse. Building upon this logic, Descartes says, “the soul” is what separates living humans from corpses. This soul Descartes refers to can also be called the mind, and Descartes uses this to pinpoint what is responsible for the body’s ability to do such things. To Descartes, actions such as feeling, eating, and moving are powered by the soul, and this is the difference between living and non-living beings. After this, Descartes begins to think more in depth about the soul, and he even begins to consider what it might look like. Because he could not know what exactly the soul gave the impression of, Descartes commenced to focus more at the body. After greater meditation, he concluded if it had been no longer for his soul, he could not be able to do something that described him. Through his senses, Descartes said his frame could lie to him though false perceptions. This argument became justified through the act of dreaming. Descartes said that when he became dreaming, he perceived matters he “later found out [he] had no longer perceived in that way”. He intended he could occasionally dream things that he idea genuinely came about but could later recognize they hadn’t taken place, and as an alternative he was remembering a dream he had. Using this thought manner, Descartes concluded that the frame this responsible for appearing the 5 senses, however the soul is what analyzes that records this is brought into the frame. This idea is what he deemed become the actual meaning of life, which changed into if something is capable of suppose, then it does exist.

John Locke is most well-known for giving the arena its “first crisp formulation” of private identity. While there is nevertheless ambiguity in Locke’s philosophies on personal identification, it could be argued that they’re no longer as ambiguous as Rene Descartes’. Locke’s ideas placed forth a clean idea of personal identity and its origin. He explains the identities of various species consisting of vegetables, animals, and man. Locke admits there are similarities among each of them, and he says this type of similarities is that the concept that there is “one coherent frame”. From this quote, Locke approach there may be a frame that exists throughout the problem’s lifestyles, but he says the difference of those organisms can be determined in every one’s “non-public identification.

Locke says non-public identity is fine described as the aspect that “distinguishes from all different questioning things. Using this definition, Locke argues that because of private identity, people may be the equal over a given time frame, however they also can be experiencing alternate all through this equal length. Similar to Descartes philosophy, Locke says, “awareness always accompanies wondering”. Locke believed memory became the critical component of the thoughts that connects “the one of a kind components of our lives. Contrary to Descartes, Locke’s ideas emphasized the thoughts and its residences, and this mounted the concept of the thoughts being a separate entity from the frame.

Locke is famed for his reminiscence theory. He strongly believed reminiscences played an essential aspect in a single’s non-public identification. He believed this to the point wherein he stated that if he lost “the memory of some elements of life, past a possibility of retrieving them,” he would be a totally specific individual. This concept is referred to as Locke’s memory principle, and it’s miles probably the maximum debated concept of Locke’s philosophies. Locke believed if a person devoted a crime, but could not don’t forget committing the crime, then they ought to now not be held chargeable for such moves. Locke’s principle suggests the “man” or the “body” dedicated the crime, however the “character” did not. He justifies this because he says the frame would stay the identical, but the individual, or mind, is continuously converting, which means that the individual that dedicated the crime is not in the frame. Because of this, he says the one who devoted the crime need to no longer be punished.

Descartes and Locke have been each capable of agreeing that the mind and frame are separate entities. Descartes approached this by analyzing his personal lifestyles even as Locke searched into the part of us that makes us particular, the thoughts. How Locke defines private identification suggests that he and Descartes agree with the idea that “thinking constitutes awareness”. Again, this offers more proof toward their perception that the thoughts and body are distinct from each other. Thinking originates from the mind but physical aspects of people are of the body. Even though they both agreed in the separation of the mind and body, Locke notion the mind was more self-sufficient than Descartes did.

I accept as true with, before everything glance, it’s miles very likely to consider Locke’s philosophy. People are one-of-a-kind from others because of reviews and their reminiscences from the ones studies. It is nearly impossible to be the same person without those two things. Just as Locke said, someone’s recollections aren’t continually correct, and there may be fallacies. Since recollections aren’t usually accurate, it may be argued one’s private identity is wrong. In addition to this, Locke credits too much strength to the mind.