Is there an enduring self?

Are you the same you from 5 years ago? What about 10 years? If we replace every organ, limb and vessel in your body except for your brain are you still the same person as you were from when you were a child?

These questions all relate to one key concept: What makes you, you?

This question is vital to understanding whether there is an enduring self or there is not. But the answer to the question is more important because it tells you where you think your identity lies.

I believe that identity lies in what is psychological in people and what is socially thought about objects. The idea about what makes a thing the same thing can be complicated but when you look at what defines an object the subject becomes quite simple.

Take this very common example called “The Ship of Theseus”. Say a ship that has survived hundreds of years of service and is becoming old and not fit for sea. Now say that we replace one plank of wood from the ship each year until, 1000 years and planks later, the ship has no planks of wood that weren’t replaced. After the whole ship has been replaced is it the same ship that served for thousands of years or is it a different one. Some people would say that it is a different ship because all its planks are replaced and thus it is no longer the same ship that fought in the battles and went around the world.

However, it can still be the same ship because it shares the same social continuity as the original. Social continuity in this sense meaning that people still believe that it is what it is, which in this situation means that the people still believe that it is the ship of Theseus.

The idea of social continuity is best shown through this adapted version of the Ship of Theseus. Say the ships planks need to be replaced so you do so but you transport the old planks down the coast in a way that no one knows they have been replaced. Now let’s call the ship in the harbour Ship A and that the planks of wood that are being transported are being made into another ship which is called Ship B.

Then 1000 years pass, and the people of the city think that Ship A is the ship of Theseus. If this happens where the people believe that Ship A is the ship, then what would they do if someone sailed Ship B into the harbour and claimed it to be the Ship of Theseus. Would the people in the city believe that Ship B is the real ship, or would they still believe that Ship A is the original ship?

In this instance some people would say that Ship B is the real one because it has all the original parts but is it still the original? Was it made by the same builder who originally made it? Did it use the same nails, or did it use wood from the same trees as the original did? If not, then it technically cannot be considered the same because it is still missing things. Ship B’s only claim to being the original is that it has all of the original planks.

But in terms of what the people in the city believe then the continuity strays from the physical. In this instance the people in the city never saw the planks being replaced or saw the planks move from the ship. All they saw was what they thought to be the original ship every time they went to the harbour. So the people believe Ship A to be the real ship because they never saw a change and they doubt that a different ship could be the real ship because they have seen the original stay in the harbour for 1000 years.

Ship A has social continuity to the people of the city because they have known it as the Ship of Theseus. To them it is the Ship.

This example is quite similar to the idea that “if a tree falls in the forest and no one hears it, did it make a noise?” Obviously common sense can tell us that it did because a tree falling would make a big noise when it hit the ground but there is still the bit of doubt of whether it was acted upon a different force which made it fall? Does it really matter what the people think about Ship A if common sense tells us that Ship B is the real one.

Unless you can prove that Ship B has the original parts then the group won’t agree. And since the two ships are identical and both are identical in weight, size, position then the only evidence that Ship B is the original ship is from testimonies from people who saw Ship B get made. This means that it the words of the people who replaced the planks against and entire city. And it can be quite hard to change people’s opinions when they have already made up their minds.

Now let’s discuss humans. If your entire body is replaced but your brain and all of its memories, thoughts and activity is preserved and stored in a new body are you still the same you?

But a writer called Rebecca Goldstein, in her book called “Betraying Spinoza: The Renegade Jew Who Gave Us Modernity”, said that a small girl from a photo may be her but if she has no memory of that time or her body doesn’t match the girls, then how can it be her? This is the perfect instance where social continuity comes into action in preserving people as who they were. Memories of other people, marks someone might have from that day and photos are all examples of other people who can remember us even when we can’t. Social continuity is how so many people can lose their memory and end up falling in love with their spouse all over again. It’s because the people around them remember who they are and can help them back to how they were before they lost their memories. But if someone loses their memory and all the people who have come into contact with them also loses their memory of the person; does that mean that the person is truly a new person or are they truly lost?

You might say that your physical appearance is important because it makes up your social and physical continuity, it is what people think of you. That is true, but your personality and thoughts also make up part of your social continuity. Without the you inside your brain people would only know you from a physical point of view.

With your brain in a new body your psychological continuity is preserved while your physical is not. Because your brain contains all of your memories, thoughts, experiences and personality it is you. Your body defines your look, the people around you define your presence, but your brain defines who you truly are.

Thank you for reading this short essay on enduring selves and how the mind and minds of others is what truly matters in this topic. My resources are down below. Thank you.

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