Philosophy › Section F · Metaphysics › Topic F.4
Locke, personal identity, and the problem of consciousness
John Locke proposed that what makes you the same person is not your body or your soul but your consciousness, reaching back through memory. That answer still shapes debates about personal identity, and it leads straight to a harder question: what is consciousness itself?
In this topic
- A third answer to persistence
- Substance, man and person
- Consciousness makes the person
- Worked example: the prince and the cobbler
- Butler's circularity objection
- Worked example: Reid's brave officer
- Psychological continuity today
- The problem of consciousness
- The hard problem and zombies
- Theories and radical options
- Common mistakes to avoid
- Key takeaways
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