My Influences On Personal Identity

Personal Identity in philosophy refers to a person’s self-perception, ones belief about who they are and how they differ form others. Locke and Hume both share their ideas about Personal identity and although they might both drastically differ they are still both puzzling.

When analyzing aspects of our identity that shape our attitude, behaviors, and experiences, we must include concepts of sex, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender, age, socioeconomic class, religion, and ability. It is essential that we understand our own and others identities in order to better understand our social relationships and our interactions with one another.

However, other theories come into play and reject the psychological approach to explaining personal identity and it’s persistence over time; claims that continuity of the brain and memory are not enough to explain and confirm personal identity are made. These theories include the biological approach, the dualist theory, and the materialist approach from Shoemaker, which involves the memory theory. Through the review of these theories respectively, a clearer understanding of personal identity can be developed and argued for. Following this, we can begin to see how cases of multiples personalities or identities can be argued to exist as well.

Personal identity is a challenging topic to understand, as there are numerous philosophers who have distinctive ways of defining identity. In this video the YouTuber is explaining five different philosophers and their description of personal identity. He is able to present the information in a manner that is easier to understand and relates it to people that I know. He begins his explanation of the material with Locke and states, “identity of persons is identity of consciousness.” Locke believes that memory is an essential component of identity. For example, if you recall yourself from a year ago, then you are still the same person you were a year ago. Reid’s version is similar to Locke’s interpretation, but is an expanded form. He describes

Identities are largely derived from the roles individuals play within society. When I think about my identity as an individual I predominantly think about external factors such as my gender or skin colour. For me, being largely a part of the dominant culture within Australia, I found it increasingly difficult to reflect on what has made me the person I am today.

People’s worldview is shaped, in part, by the languages they speak and their ideologies on said languages. Each of my four grandparents grew up in a different country, so that has created in interesting mix of languages, cultures, and accents that I was exposed to at a young age. The languages I have been exposed to have ranged from religious studies,to self-learning, to an important language exam in high school. This tangle of different cultures not only makes family gatherings interesting, but it also plays an important part in my personal identity and beliefs.

Everybody has an identity, it makes them individual and unique, and it defines who you are as a person. This project about my identity showed me what makes me unique. I would have never known how much my friends mean to me or how my identities connect with each other. I have three identities that make me who I am, cultural, personal, and social. A specific quality that covers my cultural identity is being Czechoslovakian. Both sides of my family have at least a part of Czech in them. My great-grandparents are from Czech Republic and my grandpa was the first generation in America, he was born in Ohio. This is very important because I have always identified as Czech and it is a big part of me, as I am so interested in ancestry. For my personal identity, the biggest part is my personality, being loud and outgoing, has always been important to me. The reason being, it is how people view me. A lot of people know me as the loud person or the person who talks a lot. That is meaningful to me considering I like people to view me in a certain way The last identity, social, is one of the most important to me because it involves my friends, and through this project, I learned how vital they really are to my social identity. I realized that I have a good amount of friends in this project. It is nice to have people as a support system and to relate with. These qualities show that I value being loud and outgoing. It also says that I value my family and they are a big part of life. The last one, social, ties in with the first one because it shows I am outgoing and friendly.

Many people question themselves, what is it exactly that makes them unique? What is it that defines them as a unique person that no one in the world possesses? In philosophy, these questions do not have just one answer, and all answers are correct depending on which theory appeals most and makes sense to you. In general, there are two ways people approach this question, some say that a person’s identity is the “self” that carries all of their experiences, thoughts, memories, and consciousness (ego theorists), and some say that a person’s identity is just a bundle of experiences and events that a person has been through in their life, these people deny that the “self” exists (bundle theorists). In this paper, I will be arguing that a person’s identity is just a bundle of experiences, denying the self and the memory criterion.

1. Any theory of personal identity should be able to solve two problems: first, the problem of individuation; second, the problem of continuity or persistence. How would you in your own words characterize these problems? Also, do these problems matter at all? Are they actually important? Why or why not?

Need a hook In this essay I will be talking about 3 major aspects that make up me. The 3 key aspects of my identity are running and art which are my abilities and reading which is one of my values.

Lately my mornings are spent getting up between 5:30am and 6am. I get myself ready, I never look fantastic just passable, and I go to work. Part of my morning routine is getting my dog, Donovan, ready for the early part of his day as well. We go to the yard for his bathroom routine, we go inside where I feed him his diet dog food and inject him with insulin, we go upstairs where I place a new diaper wrap around his mid-section (dogs with diabetes leak, who knew?), and he goes back to bed to sleep beside my husband. After we say our goodbyes I head to work, or school, or whatever adventure life has for me that particular day. Rinse, wash, repeat. I had no idea when I was in my teenage years that my life at 32 years old would be a tattooed, married, full time working, full time schooling, boring, Puerto Rican, animal lover. Well, the animal loving part I knew since I was maybe 2.

Personal identity is essential in the human experience. Identity is complex and can be broken down into two main groups: introspective identity, and bodily identity. Introspective identity is based off of the groups, mentalities, or beliefs that you align yourself with, and bodily identity is based off of the physical side of yourself. Whether physical or introspective, your identity impacts every action you take. Whether choices ranging from what colors you prefer to which college you want to attend are primarily based off of your introspective identity, which is a combination of both memory and consciousness, physical identity impacts how others perceive you. Consciousness is mainly the awareness of bodily identity as well as continuous introspective identify, while memory is awareness of introspective identity. These two different facets of identity are imperative in the distinction between bodily identity and introspective identity. In means of personal identity introspective identity (which is evident in memory), is essential, while bodily identity (based partially in consciousness) has less credit.

During adolescence I began to develop my identity. Prior to this period I identified as the chunky, overweight child who depended on approval from her parents to succeed. During this time I was able to explore through trying new activities such as volunteering in the community as a third grade Sunday school catechist and playing on the field hockey team. I also was in accelerated courses, so maintaining high educational standards also became part of my identity. According to Erickson, what I was experiencing, “Identity verses Role Confusion” was typical of teens. During this time my values and interest in the special needs community began to develop into something that I have now turned into a career. This allowed

My purpose is to show my individuality and to express myself. This is for others including myself, to see and to remind us that our identity is very complex.

Hello Paige, I live in Edmonton as well. Your hobbies are really interesting! It's always rewarding to indulge in a healthy and calming outlet such as yoga or meditation. I admire your strong sense of identity, you seem incredibly comfortable and confident in yourself and your passions. Although my major is not Psychology, I did take a General Psychology course in high school and I'm enrolled in PSYCH 290 and I have to say it's an extremely fascinating subject; probably one of my favorites this semester. I believe that from reading even a brief introduction about you that such an endeavor truly fits your personality.