Mind Body Materialism

The past week has been an enlightening journey on the philosophy of personal identity*, and the problem of life after death**.

What makes someone the same person over time?

and

What makes people different at the same time?

One question asks for what is the 'constant' of our existence, and the other asks what makes our 'constant' different as others'?

Nothing suggests the existence of life after death, unless it be the hopeful desires for physical preservation of a mortal species. I believe our personal identity is 'mind body materialism'. That is, a person consists of one thing, a living biological body. And the Mind is physical and does not differ from the rest of the body.****

But there are those who appeal for the existence of an "incorporeal" identity in 'mind body dualism', or that a person consists of 2 things, a mind and a body. The Mind occupies no space and is not physical. The Body takes up space but does not think.

Then there are those who appeal to 'extreme mind body dualism', or that a person consists entirely of Mind (soul) that takes no space and thinks. The Body is no more temporary as clothes.

****To this comes to our personal identity in the physical sense. What makes me recognizeable? What is in my persona, or personality that is 'me'? Normally one would appeal to the 'soul' as this answer. After all, with one less arm or one less leg, I would still be 'me'. Maybe if I just had my brain I would still retain my identity. The soul is what makes me 'me', and will be recognized by other souls life after death.

But what if my persona is not a 'constant'. It is rather constantly changing, moment by moment through life. Every ray of light, every word heard and word said, altered the molecular make up of my physical brain, making me a different person from a second ago, from when I began this paragraph, from when I was in middle school, from the moment I was born. Then who am 'I'? If nothing 'incorporeal' exists, I am just a circuit board, constantly adjusting itself until it burns out.

peace out

*The last week has been one of those moments when incredible bonds are created between lives.

**After days of ghost hunting in Old Main, Michael, Mitch and Stephanie witnessed something on Sunday, after I left.