PHILOS 2XX3 Lecture : Locke Personal Identity
Document Summary
Locke thought that different kinds of entities may have different persistence conditions. In the case of inanimate bodies the removal or addition of a single atom results in a change of identity. In the case of living things the removal or addition of atoms need not result in a change of identity. Biological entities remain numerically the same as long as they partake of the same life. Oak tree growing from a tiny plant to a great tree remains the one and the same entity throughout the change. This is because there is an organization and distribution of parts that allows the whole entity to continually engage in the operations constitutive of its life. The organism remains the same because it has the same life. Acorn question: from the moment the acorn becomes capable of being an oak tree (i. e. after fertilization) it is a new biological entity and so the life of the tree begins.