Personal Identity

Personal Identity brings together the most important readings on personal identity theory in a collection ideal for students, philosophers, and all other interested readers. The volume begins with a detailed introductory historical essay by the editors, which traces the evolution of personal identity theory in the West from classical Greece to the twentieth century. It also describes how, in the early 1970s, philosophers shifted their attention from the 'internal relations' view of personal identity to an 'external relations' view that explores, among other considerations, what matters in survival.The essays that follow are delineated by this twentieth-century philosophical shift. The first section features seminal papers by such luminaries as Bernard Williams, Derek Parfit, Robert Nozick, and David Lewis. These are the very scholars that were involved in initiating the revolution in personal identity theory. The second section features papers by Christine Korsgaard, Peter Unger, Ernest Sosa, Raymond Martin, Marya Schechtman, Mark Johnston, and Derek Parfit that focus primarily on the new question of survival. Finally, a recent paper on animalism by Eric Olson and one on the self by Galen Strawson indicate new directions in which further discussion might continue.

Raymond Martin is Professor of Philosophy and Chair of the Philosophy Department at Union College. He previously taught at the University of Maryland, College Park where he is now Emeritus Professor. His books include The Past Within Us (1989) and Self-Concern: An Experiential Approach to What Matters in Survival (1998).

John Barresi is Professor of Psychology at Dalhousie University. In collaboration with Raymond Martin, he has co-authored Naturalization of the Soul: Self and Personal Identity in the Eighteenth Century (2000).