Single Idea 1352

[catalogued under 16. Persons / D. Continuity of the Self / 7. Self and Thinking]

Full Idea

My thoughts, and actions, and feelings, change every moment: they have no continued, but a successive, existence: but that self, or I, to which they belong, is permanent.

Gist of Idea

Thoughts change continually, but the self doesn't

Source

Thomas Reid (Essays on Intellectual Powers 3: Memory [1785], III.Ch 4)

Book Reference

'Personal Identity', ed/tr. Perry,John [University of California 1975], p.109


A Reaction

The word 'permanent' may be excessive, but one could hardly say there is nothing more to personal identity than the contents of consciousnes, given how much and how quickly those continually fluctuate.