PHL240H1 Lecture Notes - Reductio Ad Absurdum, Transitive Relation, Personal Identity
Document Summary
Argument summary example from page 109. Derived contradiction from initial assumption (reductio ad absurdum) Soul for locke just means thinking substance . Consciousness switches between 2 individuals if their souls are switched (prince and the cobbler example) Possibility of switching bodies (you become something else, not the human animal associated with your body right now) We can easily conceive of body switching (according to locke) We are neither a complex body or human animal, we are this conscious thinking thing that lasts as long as memory will last. We are not a body or an animal. Locke argues against this claim of a soul view of personal identity (section 12-14) Numerical identities have implications for what is and is not possible (superman. = clark kent example) impossible for superman to be somewhere where clark. Different souls associated over time with the same person (locke sees this as a possibility) Soul: thinking substance (does the thinking attributed to you)
