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Full Idea
Because the entire span of one's life can be divided into countless parts, each one wholly independent of the rest, it does not follow from the fact that I existed a short time ago that I exist now, unless some cause creates and preserves me each moment.
Gist of Idea
Some cause must unite the separate temporal sections of a person
Source
René Descartes (Meditations [1641], §3.49)
Book Ref
Descartes,René: 'Discourse on Method/The Meditations', ed/tr. Sutcliffe,F.E. [Penguin 1968], p.127
A Reaction
How could I 'prove' that this computer is the same computer as it was five minutes ago, even after I have accepted the straightforward existence of the computer? This is the Enlightenment Project, the mad desire to prove absolutely everything.
| 1400 | Some cause must unite the separate temporal sections of a person [Descartes] |
| 5512 | Locke uses 'self' for a momentary entity, and 'person' for an extended one [Locke, by Martin/Barresi] |
| 1202 | A person is intelligent, rational, self-aware, continuous, conscious [Locke] |
| 4042 | Metaphysics requires the idea of people (speakers) located in space and time [Davidson] |
| 3238 | 'Dead person' isn't a contradiction, so 'person' is somewhat vague [Williams,B] |
| 3239 | You can only really love a person as a token, not as a type [Williams,B] |
| 20618 | Persons must be conscious, reasoning, motivated, communicative, self-aware [Warren, by Tuckness/Wolf] |
| 4669 | Persons are conscious, they relate, they think, they feel, and they are self-aware [Glover] |
| 6665 | Persons are selves - subjects of experience, with reflexive self-knowledge [Lowe] |