JMJ Marist Brothers

NOTRE DAME OF MARBEL UNIVERSITY

College of Arts and Sciences
Alunan Ave., City of Koronadal, South Cotabato 9506

Rex Bryann C. Zambra PHSC 105 Seminar on Contemporary Philosophy

AB-PHILO 4
“Reductionism and Personal Identity
A Reaction Paper”

Reductionism is the belief that any complex phenomenon can be broken down

into its basic constituent parts and explained. Parfit explains how a reductionist would

explain personal identity in his book "Reasons and Persons." By conceptually isolating

specific characteristics of a person, the idea is that we can identify the essential

characteristic upon which the concept of a person is based. He asserts that a person's

existence consists solely of their physical and mental experiences. In an effort to

simplify the ambiguous nature of what makes a person themselves, he also emphasized

a psychological and a physical criterion to explain the components of one's identity. He

defined the psychological criterion as the non-branching mental continuity and/or

connection between one's experiences with information and facts. Personal identity can

be reduced to this psychological continuity because Parfit believed that this is where a

person gets their personality or identity. Parfit's theory of persistence is supported in this

regard because both the psychological criterion and the physical criterion are based on

the idea of continuity within a functioning brain. This indicates that one may endure over

time as a result of being connected through a linkage that is unaffected by development

or the passage of time. As a result, the concept of continuity implies that a person 50

years ago is still the same person, despite the fact that they may have appeared
 JMJ Marist Brothers
NOTRE DAME OF MARBEL UNIVERSITY
College of Arts and Sciences
Alunan Ave., City of Koronadal, South Cotabato 9506

physically or psychologically different from themselves at the time. Furthermore,

personal identity takes a non-branching, or one-to-one, form because it only exists in

psychological continuity. "Not what matters" is Parfit's definition of personal identity.

What matters is a person's intrinsic quality as a result of psychological continuity and

connectedness.

Parfit acknowledges that his views on personal identity might be counterintuitive

and in opposition to what most people normally think a person is like. As a consequence

of this, Parfit states, "even if we are not aware of this, the majority of us are non-

Reductionists." As a result, the majority of us have erroneous notions about our nature

and our identity over time. A non-reductionist view of personal identity, such as the

Cartesian view, states that a person is a mental substance rather than a brain and a

body. From a Cartesian point of view, the existence of a mental, nonphysical ego that

keeps each person unique is what matters. Parfit rejects the non-reductionist viewpoint

because, as his "My Division" thought experiment demonstrates, there is no Cartesian

ego. His reductionist viewpoint is also supported by this.

The experiment's theoretical nature means that it is not very convincing and

relies on empirical assumptions, which may suggest that the findings were influenced by

a biased interpretation. Parfit makes the presumption that one could split a brain in half

and expect the same level of functioning because split brain patients can function

normally with only one half of their brain. It is difficult to accept this as support for Parfit's

ideas until Parfit's example has been falsified through legitimate experiment rather than
 JMJ Marist Brothers
NOTRE DAME OF MARBEL UNIVERSITY
College of Arts and Sciences
Alunan Ave., City of Koronadal, South Cotabato 9506

conjecture. A functional plasticity of one's brain may enable it to take over various

functions of an area of the brain that has been damaged. As a direct consequence of

this, Parfit's argument for reductionism loses credibility as a result.