Locke Memory Theory

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Personal identity questions what makes it true for a person at one time to be identical with a person at another. Many philosophers believe we are always changing and therefore, we cannot have the same identity if we are different from one moment to the next. However, many philosophers believe there is some important feature that determines a person’s identity. For John Locke, this important feature is memory, and I agree. Memory is the most important feature in determining a person’s identity as memory is a necessary and sufficient condition of personal identity. John Locke believes that A is identical with B, if and only if, A remembers the thoughts, feelings, and actions had or done by B. This shows that the important feature, memory, is linking a person from the beginning of their life to the end of their life. Locke’s memory theory would look something like this: The self changes over time, so it may seem like personal identity changes too. However, even if you are changing, you are still retaining past memories. Therefore, if you can retain memories, memories are the link between you and an earlier you, so personal identity persists over time. So, memory is the necessary and sufficient condition of personal identity. Locke’s theory says that we are …show more content…

Even if we do not remember every memory, we have a chain of memories which is sufficient as we can remember a time when we once did remember the forgotten memory. The theory may also seem circular, but if we rephrase Locke’s argument to talk about quasi-memories, instead, his argument is preserved as q-memories do not presuppose identity. Memory connects us to a past self and without our memories, we are not the same person we once were, which is why memory is the most important feature in determining a person’s identity as memory is a necessary and sufficient condition of personal

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