A Question of Identity

That’s the title of a fascinating article, written by Bob Harrison, about what makes a person. I see that he refers to the book Reasons and Persons by the philosopher Derek Parfit. It just so happens that I have that book sitting in my "to be read" pile. I got it through a reference to one of Parfit’s "thought experiments" mentioned in Douglas Hofstadter’s excellent I Am A Strange Loop. I think I’m going to have to raise the priority of Parfit’s book in the pile…

 

(hat tip to Mind Hacks for the article link)