Locke can use this insight to explain why we identify the same human being through the normal changes of life. ‘Same man or woman is like ‘same tree’ or ‘same monkey’. It accommodates growth and change, so long as there is continuity of function, or of organized life. So far then, so good. Locke has got a good hold on what enables us to reidentify the same human being (thought of as a large mammal: what you see when you look in a mirror) or same plant through time. Why should anything change when we come to the self?
