Consciousness and personal identity

PHILOSOPHY OF MIND

Authors

  • Carlos Correia

Keywords:

consciousness, personal identity, self, narrative

Abstract

In this essay we study the nature of consciousness and its relation to personal identity. We argue that the best cognitive strategy to investigate the self implies the notion of narrative identity, though we find it wrong to identify self-consciousness with a narrative.

In a narrative we can take the place of the other, imagine possible scenarios, teaching our sensibility in complex problem solving. Biographic, historical or fiction narrative is a privileged instrument of knowledge, allowing us to explore people’s identity and nature without falling in the extremes of introspection, self-indulgent on many occasions, or im- personal neutrality. Personal identity is, consequently, the questioning on the final unique particularity of each one of us and a privileged instrument of access to that experience.

Author Biography

Carlos Correia

PhD in Philosophy, Associated Professor at the Departament of Phi-

losophy, University of Lisbon.

References

Chalmers, D. (1996). The Conscious Mind. Oxford: OUP.

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Gaudemar, M. de (2001). Le Vocabulaire de Leibniz. Paris: Ellipses.

MacIntyre, A. (1985). After Virtue. A Study in Moral Theory. London: Duckworth. Nagel, T. (1979). Mortal Questions. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Nagel, T. (1987). What does it all mean? Oxford: OUP.

Nagel, T. (2012). Mind and Cosmos. Oxford: OUP.

Parfit, D. (1984). Reasons and Persons. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

Perkins, F. (2007). Leibniz: a Guide for the Perplexed. London: Continuum.

Ricoeur, P. (1988). L’identit narrative. Esprit, 140/141.

Ricoeur, P. (2000). La M moire, l’Histoire, l’Oubli. Paris: Seuil.

Ricoeur, P. (2001). Le Juste 2. Paris: Esprit.

Searle, J. (1992). Minds, Brains And Science: The 1984 Reith Lectures. London: Penguin.

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Published

2020-07-14

How to Cite

Correia, C. (2020). Consciousness and personal identity: PHILOSOPHY OF MIND. Filosofska Dumka, (3), 90–104. Retrieved from https://dumka.philosophy.ua/index.php/fd/article/view/419

Issue

No. 3 (2018): Philosophical thought

Section

ARTICLES

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