| The problem of personal identity is a sub-species of the problem of change in Western metaphysics. We are changing all the time, both bodily and mentally. The problem of personal identity is this:how is it possible for a person to change but still remain the same person? How is a person at one time the same person at another time?The study of the problem of personal identity has some theoretical significance. The solutions to many Western philosophical problems presuppose the answer to the question of personal identity, and they take the personal identity for granted. For instance, our concept of moral responsibility presupposes freedom will, and free will presupposes a person (an agent)'s identity. So the doctrines of moral responsibility and free will all presuppose the concept of personal identity, but how it is possible has been a long debate since Locke.The study of the problem of personal identity also has some practical significance. Our legal system and justice of punishment and reward need to answer this question:how can we determine one person at one time is the same person at another time? For, obviously, it is unfair or unjust to punish a person for the crime the other person committed. When a thief has been converted to a new or reshaped person, should we still treat him as the same as the before?The paper is about that the problem of personal identity. It discusses the following issues:what the problem of personal identity is, and how various theories provide different solutions to the problem and what problems each of those theories has. We concentrate on three kinds of theories on the personal identity:substance theories, memory theories, and process theories. In this paper, we systematically analyze the advantages of each theory and its problems, and attempted to find out some possible ways to solve the problem of personal identity. |
