PHIL 100 Lecture : PHIL 100_Personal Identity.docx
17 Sep 2013
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The topic of personal identity is an issue at the center of metaphysics. There are many different questions that often get lumped together in discussions of personal identity. It will be important to keep them separate. The persistence question is a question about numerical identity. Numerical identity must be distinguished from mere qualitative identity. X is numerically identical to y means that x and y are the very same thing. X is qualitatively identical to y means that x is exactly similar to. Clearly, the question is not about qualitative identity: You and your younger self are not exactly similar: for just one thing, you"re taller than him/her. Ralphs a different person now than he used to be the same person as his younger self. When people say things like this, they don"t mean that ralph now is not one and.
