Rene Descartes Concept Of Self

1268 Words6 Pages
In their podcast episode entitled “Who Am I?”, Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich discuss the idea of the self. Two well-known philosophers, John Locke and René Descartes, place heavy emphasis on the mind when it comes to the definition of the self. Locke believes that the entire self is made up solely of memories and Descartes says the only thing one can know for certain is that their mind exists. The podcast “Who Am I?” includes a couple of guests, including Hannah Palin, who shares a story about her mother’s soul traveling while she is in a coma. Paul Broks, another guest, explains that he does not believe in a mental self, but instead a continuation of one’s body. I agree with both Locke and Descartes ideas to a certain extent, but I agree even more so with Descartes because of his skepticism and questioning of the world around him.…show more content…
He thinks that the continuity of a person’s personality is the memories that string together different periods of their lives. In his writing, “Of Identity and Diversity”, he says that “the identity of [the] soul alone makes the same man” (Locke 6). Later on in the same work, Locke explains that “there be nothing in the nature of matter why the same individual spirit may not be united to different bodies” (Locke 6). Essentially what Locke is saying here is that if someone were to suddenly take on the memory of another, they would become that person. If they lose memories from a time period in their lives, then they are no longer identical to the person they were

More about Rene Descartes Concept Of Self

Open Document