Single Idea 6670

[catalogued under 16. Persons / B. Nature of the Self / 7. Self and Body / b. Self as brain]

Full Idea

If, as seems intuitively plausible, I could survive with my brain detached from the rest of my body, I most certainly cannot be identical with my whole body.

Gist of Idea

If my brain could survive on its own, I cannot be identical with my whole body

Source

E.J. Lowe (Introduction to the Philosophy of Mind [2000], Ch.10)

Book Reference

Lowe,E.J.: 'Introduction to the Philosophy of Mind' [CUP 2000], p.287


A Reaction

A key mistake is to treat the notion of 'I' as all-or-nothing. My surviving brain is much more like me than my surviving kidney, but the notion of my brain saying to my family 'it's me in that jar over there' sounds wrong. It is a bit of me.