Single Idea 5669

[catalogued under 16. Persons / D. Continuity of the Self / 6. Body sustains Self]

Full Idea

A Humean theory, in which a person's identity is made to depend upon relations between experiences ..is not tenable unless the experiences themselves can be identified, and that is only possible through their association with the body.

Gist of Idea

Personal identity can't just be relations of experiences, because the body is needed to identify them

Source

A.J. Ayer (The Concept of a Person [1963], §IV)

Book Reference

Ayer,A.J.: 'The Concept of a Person etc' [Macmillan 1973], p.128


A Reaction

This seems to me a very fruitful response to difficulties with the 'bundle' view of a person - a better response than the a priori claims of Butler and Reid, or the transcendental argument of Kant. Only a philosopher could ignore the body.