Personal identity, the self, and ethics

de Ferdinand Santos, Santiago Sia

"What does it mean to be "oneself" or to be "the same" person? What does being a "person" or a "self" mean? What is personal identity? How do these notions relate to ethics? Many, influenced by the postmodernist talk of "the fall of the self," have sought to show that these questions are unanswerable and even irrelevant." "This book takes a different stand. It seeks to address these questions because it maintains their continued importance in philosophy and in other disciplines. It identifies some of the problems which have been brought about by the traditional answers and provides an alternative conception of person, personal identity, and the self. Taking the theory of John Locke as a starting point and by being in dialogue with contemporary philosophers such as Derek Parfit and P.F. Strawson, the authors develop an original philosophical anthropology based on the writings of Charles Hartshorne and A.N. Whitehead."--Jacket.