PERSONAL IDENTITY

Philosophy 736-532-002

University of Wisconsin/Milwaukee Spring 2004

Course Description

In this course we will investigate the philosophical problem of personal identity. There are two parts to this problem. First, what counts as a person? Second, what makes us the particular persons that we are and how is our identity preserved over time? Most of this class will be devoted to the latter question. Does personal identity depend on the continuity of memories or some other psychological traits? Or is it rather a matter of the continuity of the body? We will read some classical discussion of the problem and the more recent debate in analytic philosophy, with particular attention to the question whether identity matters. In the second part, we consider the narrative view of identity and its relation to the question of the unity of the self.

REQUIRED TEXTS

There is no book or reader to buy for this course. Readings are all available in electronic form either through the E-reserve at the UWM Library or on the web. See the syllabus for specific readings and their availability. Please note that if you are trying to access the readings from on off-campus computer, you might have to go through this page first http://www.uwm.edu/Libraries/ris/ezproxy.html

** A list of Additional REQUIRED readings for Graduate Students will be distributed during the semester **

Supplementary Readings

Readings marked with R are on Paper Reserve at the Golda Meir Library

N.B. You are required to read the assigned texts before attending the lecture

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SCHEDULE OF TOPICS AND READINGS

 

Date	Lecture	Topic	READINGS Required readings are in boldface readings marked with (G) are required of Grad Students only Suggested readings are in smaller font	Assignments
27/01	I	Introduction
29/01	II	Identity	Lowe, E.J.  Selections from Metaphysics: a Survey Quine "Identity" Chisolm "Identity Through Time"
03/02	III	Identity
05/02	IV	Personal Identity An Overview	Personal Identity (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy) http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/identity-personal/
10/02	V	Locke	Locke, J. An Essay Concerning Human Understanding: Book 2: Chapter 27 Atherton "Locke's Theory of Personal Identity", Midwest Studies in Philosophy, Vol. VIII, 1983
12/02	VI	Butler, Reid and Hume	Butler, Joseph. 1900. "Of Personal Identity," The Works of Bishop Butler, Vol. II, ed. J. H. Bernard. London. Reid, Thomas. 1785. Essays on the Intellectual Powers of Man. Edinburgh. Ed. A. D. Woozley. London: Macmillan, 1941; Especially Essay III; Chs. 4 and 6. Hume "Personal Identity" Treatise of Human Nature, I, 4, vi, and the appendix  (the complete volume 1 of the Treatise available at http://socserv2.socsci.mcmaster.ca/~econ/ugcm/3ll3/hume/treatise1.html)
17/02	VII	Memory and Identity	Shoemaker, Sidney. 1984. "Persons and Their Pasts," in S. Shoemaker. Identity, Cause and Mind. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984. [eres] McDowell, J., 1997, ‘Reductionism and the First Person’, in Reading Parfit, J. Dancy (ed.), Oxford: Blackwell [eres] Hamilton, Andy. 1995. "A New Look at Personal Identity" Philosophical Quarterly 45 # 180 [eres] Shoemaker, Sydney. 1959. "Personal Identity and Memory," Journal of Philosophy 56: 868-882
19/02	VIII	Psychological Criterion	Shoemaker ‘Personal Identity: a Materialist's account" in Shoemaker & Swinburne, Personal Identity, 1994, Oxford: Blackwell  pp. 89-97, 106-118, 130-132 [eres] Shoemaker, "Self and Substance", Philosophical Perspectives, 1997, vol. 11: 283-304 [eres]	Outline 1
24/02	IX	Bodily Criterion	Williams, Bernard. 1970. "The Self and the Future," Philosophical Review 79 (2): 161-180 Williams, Bernard. "Personal Identity and Individuation," &  "Bodily Continuity and Personal Identity," in Williams, Bernard. 1973. Problems of the Self . Cambridge University Press [**]
26/02	X	Animalism	Olson, E. 1997. The Human Animal: Personal Identity Without Psychology, Oxford University Press Ch. 4 [eres] Snowdon - 'Persons, Animals and Bodies' in The Body and the Self, Bermudez, J., Eilan, N. and Marcel, A. (eds.), MIT Press, 1995, p. 71-86 [eres] Mark Johnston, "Human Beings," Journal of Philosophy  84 1987, pp.59-83 Wiggins, D.  Self and Substance, Renewed. Ch. 7 "Personal identity" Noonan, ‘Animalism Versus Lockeanism: A Current Controversy’, Philosophical Quarterly 1998, 4 8: 302-318 [eres]
02/03	XI	The Simple View	Lowe Kinds of being Ch 7 [eres] Lowe "Substance and Selfhood" Philosophy, 1991 [**] Zimmerman, D., 1998, ‘Criteria of Identity and the "Identity Mystics"’, Erkenntnis 48, 281-301 [eres]	Outline 2
04/03	XII	Summary and Review
09/03	XIII	Parfit I	Parfit, Derek. 1971. "Personal identity," Philosophical Review 80:3-27 Parfit, D. 1984. Reasons and Persons. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Ch. 12-13	Topics of First Paper distributed
11/03	XIV	Parfit II		Outline 3
16/03	XV	Writing Workshop	See instructions on my homepage	DRAFT OF FIRST PAPER DUE IN CLASS
18/03	XVI	Writing Workshop	See instructions on my homepage	COMMENTS ON DRAFT DUE IN CLASS
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30/03	XVII	Parfit III	Parfit Ch. 12 continued	FIRST PAPER DUE IN CLASS
01/04	XVIII	--- No Class ---	--------------- No Class ------------
06/04	XIX	Parfit IV	Parfit Ch. 13	Outline 4
08/04	XX	Parfit V	Mark Johnston, "Reasons and Reductionism," Philosophical Review, 101, 1992, pp. 589-618 Mark Johnston, "Human Concerns WIthou Superlative Selves" in Reading Parfit, J. Dancy (ed.), Oxford: Blackwell [**]
13/04	XXI	Does Identity Matter?	Perry, John. 1975. "The Importance of Being Identical," in Amelie Rorty The Identities of persons (1975): 67-90 [eres] Wiggins "The Concern to Survive" in Needs, Values, Truth, Ch. IX [**]
15/04	XXII	Does Identity Matter?	J. Whiting "Personal Identity"  in The Blackwell guide to metaphysics / edited by Richard M. Gale. 2002. Ch. 10 [eres]	Outline 5
20/04	XXIII	Metaphysical vs. Practical Views of Identity	Christine Korsgaard "Personal Identity and the Unity of Agency" Philosophy and Public Affairs, Vol. 18, No. 2. (Spring, 1989), pp. 101-132
22/04	XXIV	Metaphysical vs. Practical Views of Identity	Velleman "Self to Self" The Philosophical Review, Vol.105, No. 1 (1996), pp. 39-76
27/04	XXV	Narrative Identity	D. Dennett, "The Self as a Center of Narrative Gravity," http://ase.tufts.edu/cogstud/papers/selfctr.htm D. Velleman "The Self as Narrator" http://www-personal.umich.edu/~velleman/Work/Dennett.pdf D. Dennett & N. Humphrey, "Speaking for Ourselves," in Brainchildren   Velleman Narrative Explanation http://www-personal.umich.edu/~velleman/Work/Narrative.pdf
29/04	XXVI	Narrative Identity	Marya Schechtman, The constitution of selves Ch. 5 [eres]	Outline 6 Topics of the second paper distributed
04/05	XXVII	Narrative Identity
06/05	XXVIII	Unity of the Self	Rovane, C., 1998, The Bounds of Agency, Princeton University Press Ch. 3 [eres]
11/05	XIX	Writing Workshop	See instructions on my homepage	DRAFT OF FINAL PAPER DUE IN CLASS
13/05	XXX	Writing Workshop	See instructions on my homepage	COMMENTS ON DRAFT DUE IN CLASS
20/05		FINAL PAPER DUE IN MY MAILBOX CURTIN 6th Floor by 4:00 p.m.	RESEARCH PAPER  for Graduate Students	FINAL PAPER DUE IN MY MAILBOX CURTIN 6th Floor by 4:00 p.m.

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ASSIGNMENTS AND GRADING POLICY

FOR UNDERGRADUATES

First Paper (1500-2100 words)	25%
Second Paper (1800-2400 words)	35%
Peer Commentaries in the Writing Workshop	15%
Class participation	10%
Class presentation	5%
Outlines of Readings (Outlines are due on the dates indicated in the syllabus. You need only turn in 4 out of 6. Only 3 out of 5 will be marked, but you have to turn a total of 5 to be given credit for the class). In 450-600 words you should indicate the main thesis of one of the required readings and outline the argument in its support. More detailed instructions will be given in class..	10%

FOR GRADUATE STUDENTS
[please note that Graduate Students have additional reading requirements -- marked with (G) above]

First Paper (1800-2400 words)	25%
Final Research Paper (2400-3000 words)	35%
Peer Commentaries in the Writing Workshop	15%
Class participation	10%
Class presentation	5%
Outlines of Readings (Outlines are due on the dates indicated in the syllabus. You need only turn in 5 out of 6. Only 3 out of 5 will be marked, but you have to turn a total of 5 to be given credit for the class). In 450-600 words you should indicate the main thesis of one of the required readings and outline the argument in its support. More detailed instructions will be given in class.	10%

 

• Attendance to lectures and writing workshops is mandatory
  
• PAPERS MUST BE SUBMITTED AT THE BEGINNING OF THE CLASS BY THE DEADLINES indicated above. All late papers will be marked 1 grade down for each day or portion thereof that they are late, including weekends and holidays (for instance, if a paper is due on Tuesday at 2:00 p.m. and it is turned in on Wed at 5.00 p.m., it will be penalized two full grades). The penalty applies BOTH to the first and the final draft of each paper (e.g., if you turn both the first and the final draft one day late, your will be penalized 2 full grades).
  
• In order to pass this course you MUST COMPLETE ALL assignments. You must take the in-class tests, participate in the writing workshops, turn in both papers and take the final exam  

click here to see the GRADING GUIDELINES

Please note that PLAGIARISM is a serious instance of Academic Misconduct

Plagiarism includes:

1. Directly quoting the words of others without using quotation marks or indented format to identify them; or,
2. Using sources of information (published or unpublished) without identifying them; or,
3. Paraphrasing materials or ideas of others without identifying the sources.

UWM Policy concerning Plagiarism is available at http://www.uwm.edu/Dept/OSL/DOS/conduct.html 

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WRITING WORKSHOP

In this class, you are given the opportunity to benefit from the comments of your peers on the first draft of your papers. You must submit the first draft of the paper (at least 900 words) together with a detailed outline on the first day of the writing workshop. Two or three other students will be assigned to you as commentators. You will meet with them at the writing workshop and discuss with them how to improve your draft. You then have some more days to revise your draft before submitting the final version for grading (for the exact deadlines, see the schedule above). You will also be commenting on the work of two or three other students. You will receive their drafts on the day when your draft is due. You will turn in your written comments at the writing workshop.

Please note that the active participation in the writing workshop is REQUIRED in order to pass the class. Detailed instructions about the writing workshop will be distributed during the term and made available on my homepage at http://www.uwm.edu/~ferrero/writing-workshop.htm

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CLASS REFLECTOR: a class reflector ( ) has been set up up for general announcements. Notice that, if you do not use your ePanther/alpha account regularly, it is your responsibility to make sure that your UWM mail is forwarded to your preferred email account (for instructions on UWM ePanther accounts go to http://www.uwm.edu/IMT/ePanther/).

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Academic Misconduct Policy: see http://www.uwm.edu/Dept/OSL/DOS/conduct.html

Drop/Audit Policy: Students will be allowed to drop the course up through the last day permitted by the Registrar. Likewise, students may elect to audit the course up through the last day permitted by the Registrar

Grievance and Appeals Policy: The Department of Philosophy has procedures for handling student grievance and grade-appeals. Information is available in the Department office, 612 Curtin Hall

Special Assistance: If you need special assistance, please contact me the first day of class

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