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Derek Parfit Personal identity article Some people believe that the identity of a person through time is, in its nature, All-Or-Nothing. This belief makes them assume that, in the so-Called ‘problem cases’, the question “would it still be me?” must have, both a definite answer, and great importance. I deny these assumptions. I try to show that the identity of a person through time is only, In its logic, All-Or-Nothing. In its nature, It is a matter of degree. I then propose a way of thinking in which this would be recognized.

Personal identity

Derek Parfit

Philosophical review, vol. 80, no. 1, 1971, pp. 3–27

Abstract

Some people believe that the identity of a person through time is, in its nature, All-Or-Nothing. This belief makes them assume that, in the so-Called ‘problem cases’, the question “would it still be me?” must have, both a definite answer, and great importance. I deny these assumptions. I try to show that the identity of a person through time is only, In its logic, All-Or-Nothing. In its nature, It is a matter of degree. I then propose a way of thinking in which this would be recognized.

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