Derek Parfit's Bundle Theory

David Hume was a philosopher who was interest in person identities and created the Bundle Theory. The Bundle Theory is an ontological theory about objects in which it consists of a bundle of properties, relations, or expressions. The object consists of its properties and nothing more than that, which means that there cannot be an object without its properties and no one can even think or imagine such an object. Every person is just a series of different events, states, sensations, and thoughts. We often question ourselves without identity with questions such as who are we? What makes who we are over time? Or what makes us the same person that we were since birth? Derek Parfit was another philosopher who was very interest in personal identity,

rationality, and ethic. He was a central person that questioned and transformed the centuries-old questions on personal identity. Derek Parfit believed that the split-brain cases was able to support David Hume's Bundle Theory. The split-brain cases dealt with different mental behaviors including the left and right sides of the brain. When the brain is severed straight through the middle, a gap was made between the functions of our left and rights sides of the brains that allows the people to enter the non-conscious and represent how power the non-conscious is which influences our self. According to David Hume's Bundle Theory, we can't explain the unity of consciousness or the unity of a whole living and split-cases are real cases that helps show evidence that there is more than one stream of consciousness.

There are some common beliefs about people that Derek Parfit disagrees with.

some common beliefs that Derek Parfit disagrees with are all questions about personal identities must have an answer and how these unanswered questions on personal identities makes us indecisive on important matters including survival, memory, and responsibility. The underlying questions is "am I the same person?". With a man with his brain split, which side of the brain would the person be living with? Derek Parfit argues that the only reasonable answer to an operation like that would be that the person survives as two different people which is his later selves and the two sides shared a past self without knowing each other was the same self. When questions are asked about a divided brain, all possible answers are not reasonable making it hard to decide which is true and hard to even believe that there must be one that is true. With a divided brain, the body is able to survive and function without truly having an identity which defeats the common belief that personal identity is important for survival. Derek Parfit believes that identity is all-or-nothing, and the continuation of a person's memories, character, and connectedness is important for

survival.

I found that Derek Parfit's position on the Bundle Theory to be unconvincing because of how there is much more to a person than just a string of events. Sigmund Freud's structure of the mind included the id, ego, and superego which helps support the ego theory in which we are more than just a string of events and properties, but also containing a soul. Although our experiences do shape how we think and to an extant who we are, I believe that we are capable of believing in morals and our souls gives us a guideline through life. Yet, I do agree with both the Ego and Bundle Theory that we not merely just a bunbdle of experiences in life, but also a soul and unique mind that develops our character and forms our deeper identity,