John Locke's Theories Of Personal Identity

a. Philosopher John Locke would argue that Memento’s main character Leonard cannot be categorized as a person. Much of Locke’s theory on personal identity relies on a person’s consciousness. Consciousness, as Locke defines it, is anything that makes up a person, in many ways memory is another form of consciousness. Because Locke believes identity was tied to one’s consciousness, he also theorized memories give an individual their personal identity. Locke believed memories create a person’s sense of self, Locke even went as far as to hypothesize that if I forget what I ate for lunch today I am then a completely different person than the “me” one who ate lunch. In Leonard’s case, his memory was nonexistent, every two minutes he forgot everything

On the other hand, contemporary philosopher Thomas Reid would contend that Leonard could be considered a person. Reid, a critic of Locke’s personal identity theory, takes the idea of identity in another form. The philosopher explains that memory is not a key component to self identity. Reid theorizes that even if we forget an event, we were at one point or another a witness to it. Reid used the story of a young boy who became a general to solidify his answer. He explained it would be illogical to say the general is a different person than the young boy, even if he forgot an event which happened in his youth. What connected the young boy to the general is not a direct memory of the event but of connecting identity. The general might not remember something in his youth, but he might remember something that happened to him when he was a soldier and the soldier remembers the young boy. Leonard does not have short term memory but he does recall things before the accident, this connects his personal identity with his present and this, through Reid’s philosophy, makes him a

Personally I have always believed personal identity is a huge part of what makes a person, a person. The manner in which we define ourselves through our likes and dislikes and the memories we create, make up who we are. In Leonard’s case, what made his a “person” with a unique personality and past, left when he lost his memory. Locke would argue that Leonard becomes a different person every time he forgets an event, Reid would refute that conclusion and explain that Leonard is still the same person, with new memories. I think that Leonard can not be considered a “full person,” by that I mean that his “old self” is still there, he remembers everything before the accident, but his memories are mixed up. I would not define him as an entire person, because his personal identity, after the accident, is nonexistent. How can a person be a person if they can not remember their past