John Perry's theory of personal identity - Essay Example

The paper will also explore the objections made against Perry’s arguments, and present a variety of the possible replies and the responses made about the issues raised. Lastly, the paper will draw conclusions from the issues discussed, highlighting the overall quality of Perry’s argument. Perry developed four theories, in explaining the reality of life, personality identity and immortality. The four theories include the soul theory, the body theory, the brain theory and the memory theory. In presenting the memory theory, Perry argues that memory is the most iconic component of a person’s identity, and maintains that it is not just about the activities they engaged in, in the past.

Perry explains that memories are the systems underlying mannerisms, behavior, feelings and attitudes about different issues (Perry 34). The memory is the principle function involved in the formation of psychological behaviors, for example, the reserved smile expressed towards a neighbor and the sadness that results from the loss of a loved one. More importantly, this side of a human enables them to recognize others, not only from their looks, but also from the shared memories about different things and issues.

In the case of memory loss, it is impossible for the given individual to stop being themselves, and that is mainly because individuals are controlled by different sets of memories, including the conscious and the subconscious. In such a case, the individual losses their interactive ability with others, but there is the subconscious side of their memory which is spared (Perry 35). These memories are those that control areas like walking style, type of laugh and the instruments they can play. Due to the sharp contrast in the areas lost and those maintained, this theory has been criticized in many ways.

It is important to make a comparison of the memory theory with the body, which maintains that, an individual is