The Identities of Persons

by Amélie Oksenberg Rorty

In this volume, thirteen philosophers contribute new essays analyzing the criteria for personal identity and their import on ethics and the theory of it presents contemporary treatments of the issues discussed in Personal Identity, edited by John Perry (University of California Press, 1975)

Genres: Philosophy, Psychology, Nonfiction

300 pages, Hardcover

First published October 16, 1976

Reviews

[Matt]

This collection of essays by leading philosophers on the topic focuses on the relationship between personal identity and "what matters" about personal identity--that is, things like care for one's future, and moral and legal responsibility.

It is a pretty good collection.

[laura]

i have trouble properly 'shelving' anthologies. some of the essays are warm, other are dry, some strange, some tortuous. but this a nice one overall. i liked it about a million bazillion kajillion times better than the shoemaker anthology, which was the central text for the personal identity seminar i took this spring. that being said, i understand why one ought to slog through the shoemaker anthology (which includes all the seminal early papers, particularly locke's) before reading this.

i should note that i only read selected essays, and i only read lewis, parfit, and williams with enough care to have written anything about them. i expect i'll get through them all eventually though. it's a subject i find compelling.

i wish there were a 3.5 stars option.

[Jacob MacDonald]

Much of the prose was dense if not dense with footnotes, to the point that I found myself missing bits. That was on top of discussion of ideas which I was not equipped or motivated to explore. But there's more to like than dislike, even for the unprepared. The various authors propose ideas about personhood which can seem obvious and strangely illuminating at the same time. The references to fiction throughout were highlights for me; There is a scientific preoccupation with brains which may or may not age well; References to older philosophy is somewhat fleeting but present especially toward the back. The "literary postscript" activated my imagination more than any other single essay, but also provides a framework one could read back in. (I have not attempted that yet.) As someone new to reading this tradition, I'm happy to come away with anything.

[Debbie Aliya]

Each paper is like mental candy.
What is a character? What is a person?
It's been a while since I read this, but it was readable and enjoyable.
Mind expanding.