Single Idea 7714

[catalogued under 16. Persons / D. Continuity of the Self / 1. Identity and the Self]

Full Idea

There is the question of the identity of a person over or across time ('diachronic' personal identity), and there is also the question of what makes for personal identity at a time ('synchronic' personal identity).

Gist of Idea

Personal identity is a problem across time (diachronic) and at an instant (synchronic)

Source

E.J. Lowe (Locke on Human Understanding [1995], Ch.5)

Book Reference

Lowe,E.J.: 'Locke on Human Understanding' [Routledge 2004], p.103


A Reaction

This seems to me to be the first and most important distinction in the philosophy of personal identity, and they regularly get run together. Locke, for example, has an account of synchronic identity, which is often ignored. It applies to objects too.