Who We Are, Is Where We Are

Throughout the entire existence of humanity, the question of personal identity has been in the back of our minds, whether we realize it or not. Personally, I believe that question is basically a matter of opinion based on the type of person you are and what you believe ink. Where you choose to believe your personal identity lies- in your body, or in your mind, memories, beliefs and values. If we are the only us we can be, then what exactly makes us unique? Is a person’s body & physical appearance their identity, or are your memories, beliefs, values, and personality your identity? Rutger’s Professor Elizabeth Camp realized this, but also challenged it with a question of what we are:“...that I am my body, or that I am a thread of overlapping psychological states.”  We have challenged ourselves for decades over what truly makes us human, where the core of who we are, lies inside our body or our minds. In the end really, it’s basically an opinion based on the type of person you are and what you believe.

Is your body your identity? If someone were to actually replicate your thoughts, your memories, and put them in a new body, would it still be YOU? Psychologists have come up with what is called the Body Theory, which states “personal identity persists over time, because you remain in the same body from birth until death.” If this is the case, does that mean without our body, we don’t have an identity? If we are the only us we can be, then what exactly makes us unique? Is a person’s story their identity, because if so that’s messed up because stories get mistold all the time. Everybody has a story, it’s forever getting told everyday we live. Your body tells a story, it is who you are in physical form. People make changes to their bodies all the time, trying to express themselves to the world. That new hair color, the tattoo that you may have gotten during a night of bad decisions, losing those last 5 pounds, all those are changes people want to make to themselves. We all make changes to our bodies, and with every change comes a reason behind that change, and a story. These stories, the stories of our bodies, are they our identity? Stories can either be good, or be bad, and we all have both.

The mind is a powerful thing, It holds the entirety of our lives within it. Our body acts out our actions, but our mind is what controls us, records what we learn, and helps us make decisions that help us act out whatever we feel. Psychologists have also come up with a mind theory which states that: “Personal identity persists over time because you retain memories of yourself at different points, and each of those memories is connected to one before it.”. Our minds hold the things that can’t be touched such as our memories, our beliefs. our experiences that we hold close to heart, our secrets. Nobody knows what’s in your head but you. The other part of the mind theory is that, if your memory is your memory, then you must be the same person who experienced that memory. So if you have a memory from your first time you met your best friend, is part of you the same person you were when you met said best friend? Some people fully believe that yes you do remain the same in a way, but what happens if you lose your memories? Just how accurate are our memories really?  Elderly people with dementia or Alzheimer’s disease are unable to remember events in their life clearly, but instead relive a similar, but not completely accurate version of that memory. If the mind theory is something you are willing to commit to believe then you also have to accept that people stop being the same person if they lose their memories.

The question of where our personal identity lies will probably be around for as long as humanity is. It depends on the person what they choose to believe, and where they feel the most of their self is. Do you exist in your mind, or do you exist in your body? When you make the choice you must also think about whether you are, and have always been the same person from birth to death. Psychologist David DeSteno asks, "Can the present you trust the future you?", and when we think about where we exist, this is something we have to take into account. We all probably have the same common thought that we’ll be the same person from birth until death, and it’s this thought that we must go deeper into to get to the truth of where our personal identity truly lies.

Bibliography:

1. WirelessPhilosophy. "PHILOSOPHY - Mind: Personal Identity (The Narrative Self) [HD]." YouTube. YouTube, 05 Feb. 2016. Web. 18 Jan. 2017.

2. Crashcourse. "Personal Identity: Crash Course Philosophy #19." YouTube. YouTube, 27 June 2016. Web. 18 Jan. 2017.