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Philosophy of Mind .Info

Substance Dualism

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Mind-Body Interaction

Personal Identity

Glossary

Philosophy of Mind

Personal Identity

Bundle Theory

Bundle Theory

In discussing personal identity it is tempting to assume that we do have identities that endure over time and seek to explain that. This assumption, however, is not completely uncontroversial.

According to David Hume, the idea of an enduring self is an illusion. A person is simply a collection of mental states at a particular time; there is no separate subject of these mental states over and above the states themselves.

When the states subside, this theory implies, and are replaced with other states, so too the person subsides and is replaced with another. According to this theory, personal identity is not an all-or-nothing affair; rather, it is a matter of degree.

 

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