more from Thomas Nagel

Single Idea 3244

[catalogued under 16. Persons / B. Nature of the Self / 4. Presupposition of Self]

Full Idea

The full conditions of personal identity cannot be extracted from the concept of a person at all: they cannot be arrived at a priori.

Gist of Idea

Personal identity cannot be fully known a priori

Source

Thomas Nagel (The View from Nowhere [1986], III.2)

Book Reference

Nagel,Thomas: 'The View from Nowhere' [OUP 1989], p.35


A Reaction

However, if you turn to experience to get the hang of what a person is, it is virtually impossible to disentangle the essentials from the accidental features of being a person. How essential are memories or reasoning or hopes or understandings or plans?