Single Idea 17216

[catalogued under 16. Persons / D. Continuity of the Self / 2. Mental Continuity / a. Memory is Self]

Full Idea

Sometimes a man undergoes such changes that he cannot very well be said to be the same man, as was the case with a certain Spanish poet ...who was so oblivious of his past life that he did not believe the tales and tragedies he had composed were his own.

Gist of Idea

The poet who forgot his own tragedies was no longer the same man

Source

Baruch de Spinoza (The Ethics [1675], IV Pr 39)

Book Reference

Spinoza,Benedict de: 'Ethics', ed/tr. White,WH/Stirling,AH [Wordsworth 2001], p.193


A Reaction

This seems to need Locke's distinction between 'man' and 'person', since the poor poet was clearly the same human being. Spinoza places huge emphasis on the intellect as the essence of the man.