Available online
Description
Neuropsychologist Paul Broks asks how we can be sure we're the same person as we were yesterday. The philosopher John Locke thought it depended on what we could remember: if we could remember somet...hing happening to us, then we were the same person as the person it happened to. But is that true?What if our memories could be downloaded and then uploaded into another body? Would that new person be the same as us? And if so, how much would we care if the body we now inhabit was destroyed? These sci-fi philosophical thought experiments can make us rethink our concept of personal identity and maybe even our attitudes towards death. In the end, is there really a self at all, or are we just a bundle of mental states and events?
Neuropsychologist Paul Broks asks how we can be sure we're the same person as we were yesterday. The philosopher John Locke thought it depended on what we could remember: if we could remember somet...hing happening to us, then we were the same person as the person it happened to. But is that true?What if our memories could be downloaded and then uploaded into another body? Would that new person be the same as us? And if so, how much would we care if the body we now inhabit was destroyed? These sci-fi philosophical thought experiments can make us rethink our concept of personal identity and maybe even our attitudes towards death. In the end, is there really a self at all, or are we just a bundle of mental states and events?
| Series: | A history of ideas |
|---|---|
| First transmission date: | 2015-04-14 |
| Original broadcast channel: | BBC Radio 4 |
| Published: | 2015 |
| Rights Statement: | Rights owned or controlled by The Open University |
| Restrictions on use: | This material can be used in accordance with The Open University conditions of use. A link to the conditions can be found at the bottom of all OU Digital Archive web pages. |
| Duration: | 00:12:00 |
| Note: | Radio 4 version |
| + Show more... | |
| Producer: | Jolyon Jenkins |
| Presenter: | Paul Broks |
| Contributor: | Paul Broks |
| Publisher: | BBC Open University |
| Production number: | PEK14000183 |
| Available to public: | no |
