more on this theme | more from this thinker
Full Idea
A focus on agency makes more sense of personal identity than a focus on experience.
Gist of Idea
To make sense of personal identity, focus on agency rather than experience
Source
Christine M. Korsgaard (Intro to 'Creating the Kingdom of Ends' [1996], §2)
Book Ref
Korsgaard,Christine M.: 'Creating the Kingdom of Ends' [CUP 1996], p.374
A Reaction
This strikes me as eminently sensible advice for the beginning of any discussion of personal identity. Her personal bęte noir is Parfit, who focuses on what we are conscious of.
| 9758 | To make sense of personal identity, focus on agency rather than experience [Korsgaard] |
| 9757 | A person viewed as an agent makes no sense without its own future [Korsgaard] |
| 9759 | Theory of action focuses on explanation and prediction; practical action on justification and choice [Korsgaard] |
| 9760 | Self-concern may be a source of pain, or a lack of self-respect, or a failure of responsibility [Korsgaard] |
| 9761 | Personal concern for one's own self widens out into concern for the impersonal [Korsgaard] |