The philosopher Derek Parfit (1942–2017) abandoned a belief that just about everyone has. It's the belief that each of us is the same precious person over time, and that this enduring "personal identity" results from a "further fact" such as discrete self or a soul that holds the perceptions, thoughts, and memories that are ours. Chucking this belief had benefits for Parfit:
"When I believed [in enduring personal identity as a further fact], I seemed imprisoned in myself. My life seemed like a glass tunnel, through which I was moving faster every year, and at the end of which there was darkness. When I changed my view...the walls of my glass tunnel disappeared. I now live in the open air.” (Reasons and Persons, 1984) I've always agreed with Parfit. When I look for that self, it simply vanishes. Year in and year out, I also get good and sick of worrying and coddling this self. I honestly hurt when I think I'm special, so it's nice to know that this darling self does not exist, so that I can quit caring about her. Then, I can step away and "live in the open air," as Parfit says. That guy was the bomb, and I am sorry he is no longer with us.
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AuthorDana Delibovi-- Archives
May 2022
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