Verified Document

Identity Williams On Identity In A Series Essay

Identity Williams on Identity

In a series of relatively simple though complexly-worded (out of necessity) thought experiments regarding body-swapping and changes to memory and the mind, Bernard Williams attempts to demonstrate that identity should be identified with the body rather than with the mind when identity is extended into the future (and by extension during the present). Whether or not Williams is successful in this attempt is a matter of much debate, with this author finding some fundamental flaws in the very premise of the comparisons and thus the conclusions, however the argument is fairly elegant and persuasive and certainly worth of closer inspection. A careful reading of the argument might lead one to a conclusion opposite to that which was intended, but is no less rewarding for this unusual quirk.

Williams begins by dispensing with several considerations that are not germane to his argument, and while some could find room to quibble with these dispensations they truly are not of importance to Williams' central argument or its flaws. Getting to the heart of the matter, Williams assumes that there are two people, a and B, have agreed to take part in an experiment wherein a's mind will be transferred into B's body and vice-versa -- a case of body-swapping....

Williams concludes, and it can be agreed, that a will rationally believe that he will occupy B's body -- that his identity will be transferred into the other's body along with his mind -- and that B. will similarly conceive of an identity transfer, as well. a-body-person, identified by the body of the person that was a prior to the experiment, will have B's mind and identity, that is, while B-body-person (the physical body of the person identified as B. prior to the experiment) will contain the mind and identity of a.
This appears a rational conclusion to Williams, and so he proceeds to imagine that prior to the experiment both persons a and B. will be asked to give a preference for one of two outcomes following the experiment: A-body-person can be given $100,000 while B-body-person is tortured, or B-body-person can be given the $100,000 while a-body-person is tortured. As the rational projection of identity in this scenario is for a to assume he will be B-body-person and for B. To assume that he will be a-body-person, each would rationally and selfishly be expected to show a preference for the outcome in which their old body received the torture while their new body -- along with their mind and identity -- received the $100,000. This cements the projection of identity as traveling with the mind; believing that he will occupy B's body and therefore be B-body-person, a will choose for a-body-person to receive…

Cite this Document:
Copy Bibliography Citation

Related Documents

William Blake Was Never Fully Appreciated in
Words: 2440 Length: 6 Document Type: Dissertation or Thesis complete

William Blake was never fully appreciated in his own time but is still an influence on literary, political and theological analyses long after his death. While the amount of modern literary criticism that now exists should hold testament to his importance, Blake and his visions, pastoral-like settings and illuminated writings shaped the modern literary canon and paved the way for others. Specifically his works "The Divine Image," its companion poem

William Blake's "The Lamb" in the Poem
Words: 1088 Length: 3 Document Type: Term Paper

William Blake's "The Lamb" In the poem "The Lamb," William Blake distinguishes his unique style through the incorporation of religious symbolism, creative lines, and simplistic patterns. "The Lamb" was published as part of a series of poems in 1789 titled the Songs of Innocence; actually, he wrote "The Lamb" and the other works as part of a series of lyrics. The entire work represents an enlightened state in Blake's life, and

William Faulkner As I Lay Dying
Words: 1243 Length: 4 Document Type: Essay

William Faulkner's As I Lay Dying The classic 1930 Novel by William Faulkner, “As I Lay Dying” is a demonstration of the evolution of modernist literature that incorporates an in-depth psychological aspect. The psychoanalytic novel displays the intricacy of the human psyche by attempting to unravel what lays in human minds. The novel presents an emotionally, psychologically and physically distressing journey of a family characteristic by selfishness as they embark. The

Lamb by William Blake Subtleness
Words: 1213 Length: 4 Document Type: Essay

The poet does not use slang as a means to alter the general messages of the poem, as the grammatical style is formal for the period during which the poem was written. The vocabulary he uses is standard and although contemporary readers might consider the vernacular to be outdated, it is actually in accordance with the period when "The Lamb" was written. Blake wrote the poem in closed verse and

David Hume/Williams James William James
Words: 2661 Length: 8 Document Type: Term Paper

James believed that belief in God could be contemplated in terms of "live and dead hypotheses" (James 2010). He argues that when one is trying to find an argument for God existing or God not existing, we must consider three things: 1) Living or dead 2) Forced or unavoidable; and, 3) Momentous or trivial. He says, "and for our purposes we may call an option a genuine option when it

Jean Toomer's Cane and Racial
Words: 2375 Length: 8 Document Type: Term Paper

... Poor Catholic poor-white crazy woman, said the black folks' mouths" (8). But throughout the novel, it is factual treatment of race that dominates any emotional construction of race. The central problem of identity in Cane is grounded in lack of acceptance of what has universally existed i.e. polarities. In the 1920s, writers like Toomer embraced a new kind of racial identity i.e. repudiation of race itself that emerged from accepting

Sign Up for Unlimited Study Help

Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.

Get Started Now