Single Idea 1356

[catalogued under 15. Nature of Minds / A. Nature of Mind / 5. Unity of Mind]

Full Idea

The identity of a person is a perfect identity: wherever it is real, it admits of no degrees; and it is impossible that a person should be in part the same, and in part different; because a person is a 'monad', and is not divisible into parts.

Gist of Idea

A person is a unity, and doesn't come in degrees

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.111


A Reaction

I don't accept this, because I don't accept the metaphysics needed to underpin it. To watch a person with Alzheimer's disease fade out of existence before they die seems sufficient counter-evidence. I believe in personal identity, but it isn't 'perfect'.