Skip to content
Carmelics
TopicsThinkersChangesContributorsLoading account…

    Carmelics

    A reasoning platform. Break down any belief into clear reasons, explore both sides, and weigh the evidence honestly.

    Navigate

    • Topics
    • Search
    • Recent Changes
    • Contribute
    • How It Works
    • Glossary
    • Thinkers
    • Contributors
    • About
    • Statistics
    • Terms
    • Privacy

    Database

    Statements
    —
    Perspectives
    —
    Topics
    —

    Press ? for keyboard shortcuts

    LoyalLoyalJusticeJustice
    Made withinDC&Austin
    The memory criterion implies that a person has never exis... — Carmelics
    Statements
    321,452
    Perspectives
    108,905
    Topics
    42
    Home/Personal Identity
    HistoryEditSee Inverse

    The memory criterion implies that a person has never existed at any time when they were unconscious, which is absurd.

    Personal Identity
    ?Rate how convincing each reason is below to see the overall strength.
    2 reasons for
    1 reason against

    Next step

    Based on where you are in your exploration

    Strongest counterpoint
    Explore the most compelling reason on the other side.

    Sign in or register to share your perspective on this statement.

    Reasons For

    2 perspectives
    Reason for 1 of 2
    ?
    • 1.Locke's original memory criterion applies to moral personhood and accountability, not to the metaphysical continuity of biological organisms across all temporal gaps.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 2.Unconscious states like dreamless sleep fall under the continuity of the living organism, not the psychological chain Locke meant to track when assigning praise, blame, and desert.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 3.Conflating the criterion's intended domain (moral identity) with a broader metaphysical claim produces a reductio that Locke's framework was never designed to absorb.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    Reason for 2 of 2
    ?
    • 1.Parfit's closest-continuer refinement of the memory criterion explicitly requires only that psychological continuity hold across intervals where consciousness is present, not across every moment.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 2.Dreamless sleep is a recognized discontinuity of the same type as deep anesthesia, and both are bracketed by Parfit as cases where the criterion applies diachronically across waking episodes, not synchronically through each instant.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 3.A criterion that tracks overlapping chains of waking psychological connections survives the unconsciousness objection because it never claimed identity requires memory of every sub-interval of a life.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    Reasons Against

    1 perspective
    Reason against
    ?
    • 1.The memory criterion holds that personal identity requires the ability to remember or quasi-remember past experiences, or to be linked to them by an overlapping chain of memories.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 2.There are many times in a person's past — such as periods of dreamless sleep — that the person cannot remember or quasi-remember at all.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 3.Dreamless sleep produces no memories that can form links in an overlapping chain connecting the sleeper to their waking self.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    Topics

    Personal Identity

    Related

    A criterion that tracks overlapping chains of waking psychological connections s...Conflating the criterion's intended domain (moral identity) with a broader metap...Dreamless sleep is a recognized discontinuity of the same type as deep anesthesi...Dreamless sleep produces no memories that can form links in an overlapping chain...
    +6 moreShow less
    Locke's original memory criterion applies to moral personhood and accountability...Parfit's closest-continuer refinement of the memory criterion explicitly require...The memory criterion holds that personal identity requires the ability to rememb...There are many times in a person's past — such as periods of dreamless sleep — t...Therefore, by the memory criterion, the person who slept last night is not ident...Unconscious states like dreamless sleep fall under the continuity of the living ...

    Similar

    There are many times in a person's past — such as periods of dreamless...78%The memory criterion holds that personal identity requires the ability...77%The principle that what one is remembering must be present at the time...77%The memory criterion for personal identity is circular and therefore u...76%

    Source

    AI-extracted1/3 agreementValid
    SEP: identity-personal
    View source passageHide passage
    Neither move gets us far, however, as both the original and the modified memory criteria face a more obvious problem: there are many times in our pasts that we cannot remember or quasi-remember at all, and to which we are not linked even indirectly by an overlapping chain of memories. There is no time when you could recall anything that happened to you while you dreamlessly slept last night. The memory criterion has the absurd implication that you have never existed at any time when you were unc
    Extraction notes

    Validity: Extracted via Max plan + API grounding/validity checks

    Details

    Type
    claim
    Perspectives
    3 (2 for, 1 against)
    Edits
    1 edit