How do you know that you are the same person as you were yesterday or last year?
By barbarella
@barbarella (354)
March 4, 2007 5:03pm CST
How do you determmine that when you wake up in the morning and become conscious, it is the same consciousness that went to sleep yesterday. If memories are stored in the brain then isn't it feasible that any consciousness within that brain, experiencing those memories would believe itself to be you? Is there something other than your memories that makes you YOU? And if not then is someone with amnesia or alzheimers still them, if not, then who are they?
1 person likes this
3 responses
@silver_shaddow (1204)
•
22 Apr 07
How do you know if the taste of chocolate is the same "chocolate taste" that I get when WE both munch on a lion bar? Do you read a lot of Philosophy?
We're not the same. Even during our waking moments. I strongly believe in that. We just have the same body. At least metaphorically speaking.
Do you feel that you are the "same" person when you're "out-raged" or in a "mood", "happy" or "sad"?? Your normal "mode" is what you really are.
With each day that passes, we learn something new that changes our lives forever and with each second, we grow a little older. Life ticks away. My feelings and what not, could have belonged to someone else and without me knowing it, it could have been circulated from body to another..
BUT...
I depend on phyiscal things that I own, my watch, wallet, etc, to tell me who I am. I also look at my ID and passport and compare the face on the photo with my reflection in the mirror, to make sure that it is really ME!
You have the most interesting topic of discussions!! ;)
@barbarella (354)
•
23 Apr 07
Thank you very much. Obviously chocolate isn't the same for you - you're a boy! I think there is research which shows the the endorphin releasing effect of chocolate really is much greater for women so there's something extra going on. Plus, one person can have as many as 25 times more tastebuds as another so there is almost definitely at least a qualitative difference in the chocolate experience between people. Not philosophy I know but true all the same!
I think that the photos, property and mirror point tallies with one of the philosophical explanations given for knowing who you are which is constancy of experience i.e. the parts of your life fit together as a coherent whole and run on from one another.
I'm quite surprised that every reply on here has said that they are not the same person since it is so counter-intuitive. Of course we do change and grow but the sense of self tends to remain the same and most of us don't wake up with a different identity each morning. There is a definite feeling of a soul, or Self, or I or Ego or Mind, whatever you choose to call it which remains constant within us even as our bodies and personalities alter over time.
@carlysle (271)
• Philippines
6 Mar 07
but we are not the same.. what we are today would definitly not be us when we wake up the next morning.. each and everything that happens to us affects as conciously or unconciously.. what makes you you are your friends.. your family.. your job.. your past.. so memories are a little part of who you really are.. :)
@cyclonewriter (2168)
• United States
4 Mar 07
I know that I am not the same person because I am constantly changing and growing as is everybody. As for someone with Alzheimers, of course they aren't. My father is 61 years old and he forgets that he told me the same thing 5 minutes ago, he forgets my brothers name, and he is completely unable to do the things he should be able to do at 61. However, one thing he still is, is my dad.
