Personal Identity - Essay Example

Personal Identity Brain rejuvenation is a medical procedure that involves removing a person’s brain, destroying it then replacing it with a duplicateone that have been developed in the laboratory. In this process, a person’s brain is removed and its system analyzed by a machine. This machine produces an identical duplicate of the original brain. The newly developed duplicate brain replaces the original brain in the skull (Perry 34).According to Perry (34), brain rejuvenation has been tested and found successful.

It has been proven by different practitioners that after the procedure, ones memory becomes clearer. In addition, his memories and believes remain unchanged. According to Schmid (2), the resultant person is a convection referring to bundle of mental states and events hence resembling the original person from whom the brain was removed. This can be tested by evaluating the persons memory after the procedure. Thus, person A is the same as person B if and only if A can remember having an experience of B.

The procedure done on Gretchen Weirob revealed that a person’s identity does not change if his brain is replaced with a duplicate one. The person’s looks, character, personality, beliefs, habits, desires, and skills remain the same. Therefore, from the success of the procedure done on other people, the results will not be different with me; I will remain the same person as long as my brain is replaced with a duplicate of my own brain. Considering Brain view theory, if I was to undergo brain rejuvenation, I will wake up the same person I was before the procedure.

My resultant person will resemble the original person since our brains will be identical. I will be numerically identical to the person I was as long as I do not get another person’s brain. This includes having all the spheres in the new brain identical to the original ones. However, this theory is insufficient and needs to be used in combination with the psychological bundle view theory. This theory compares relationship in the conscious states of a person at different times. For example in my case, my conscious states after the procedure will be appropriately related to what I have now.

I will be remembering the same things, relating events to the right experiences thus making the resultant person the same as the original one as defined by the memory proposal theory. If the process is undertaken as required, survival is guaranteed. The brain, which will be place in my skull to replace my current one, will be a complete duplicate. This will enable it to function the same way the previous one was functioning. As the theories mentioned above show, I will have retained my numerical identity and qualitative identity since the brain I will be having is a complete duplicate of what I had.

The only difference is that my brain will have been improved to think better and clearer thus the advantages of undergoing the procedure will outweigh the disadvantages. It will have enhanced my thinking hence making me better than I was before the procedure. Works CitedPerry, John. Identity, Personal Identity and the Self. Indiana: Hackett Publishing Company, 2002. Print.Schmid, Stephen E. Divided Minds and Nature of Persons. UW-Rock County. Web. 31 March 2012. < http://seschmid.org/IP/IP_Parfit_4up.pdf/>.