John Locke's Contribution to Personal Identity

This paper discusses John Locke's contribution to the concept of personal identity and explores his views on self and substance. It also examines the criticism of Locke's theory by Thomas Reid.

Running head: PERSONAL IDENTITY
PERSONAL IDENTITY
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Introduction
John Locke stated that the human identity constitutes of both the substance and the soul
and not just one of the factors. The celebrated British philosopher further stated that the human
mind is generally blank at the time of birth and thus can be considered to be one of the major
deviations from the Cartesian philosophy. The following paper discusses the contribution of John
Locke in the matters pertaining to the personal identity. The paper opens with the discussion on
the views of Locke on the concept of self and substance. The paper then further proceeds to shed
light on the criticism of the viewpoints of Locke as discussed by Thomas Reid. The paper finally
proceeds to a conclusion with the critical review on the concepts that have been discussed by
Reid in regards to the personal identity of the human beings.
Locke’s argument on self
John Locke is one of the famous philosophers of England who was considered to be one
of the most influential thinkers of the then society. The philosopher was majorly known to be the
“Father of Liberalism”. The thinker is famous for defining the concept of empiricism. The major
contributions of the thinker refer to those that were presented in the concepts of self and identity
of the concerned human beings. The philosopher stated that the human identity constitutes of
both the substance and the soul and not just one of the factors (Makovi). The philosopher further
stated that the human mind is generally blank at the time of birth and thus can be considered to
be one of the major deviations from the Cartesian philosophy. The British philosopher
maintained that the human beings are born without any innate knowledge on any factor. The
British philosopher further states that the human being is made of both the components of soul
and that of substance (Marshall). The philosopher further argues that the human beings tend to
demonstrate the knowledge on both the human existence in the substantial forms as well as the

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existence of the human soul tends to form the human being as a complete whole. John Locke
argues that the co-existence of the human physique and the human psyche together is responsible
for the existence of human being in the real world as well as in the philosophical realms (Lueke
and Skeel). The philosopher further states that the personal identity of the concerned human
beings is majorly dependent on the substantial forms as well as in terms of the existence of the
human soul.
Locke’s concept of personal identity
The concept of personal identity, in the realm of philosophy tends to deal with the issues
that are related to the proper identity of the concerned human being. The concept of the personal
identity tends to deal with the questions that are related to the philosophical contribution of the
given person on the matters relate to their very existence (Cuypers). The celebrated British
philosopher, John Locke refers to the concept of personal identity as the concept of
psychological identity. The philosopher opines that a person might survive out of a certain
situation in life only under the condition that there exists another person in the future who is
known to top have depicted a psychological evolution from the former person (Andrade). The
philosopher suggests that the alter-ego of a person is not another person in existence. The alter-
ego is one of the psychological identities that are essential for the existence of the existence of
the concerned human being. The experts in support of this argument refer to the fact that the
human being is capable of proper thought and intelligence. The philosopher further states that the
personal identity of the person is majorly dependent on the rational properties of reflection and
reason (Edgar). The major criteria that the philosopher envisages to be the essential quality for
the distinction of the human being is the criteria of being able to identify himself or herself as a
separate being.

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Reid’s criticism of Locke’s theory
The major criticism that is faced by Locke in the matters pertaining to the theory that he
had put forth refers to the criticism that was put forth by Reid. One of the most celebrated
Scottish philosophers Thomas Reid argues on the fact that the concept of memory is linked to the
concept of the personal identity of the human being. The major contributions of the Scottish
philosopher argue against the concept that was put forth by John Locke. The theory as suggested
by Locke states that the memory of the person is necessary for the development of the personal
identity of the person (Hoerl). The philosopher opines that a person might survive out of a
certain situation in life only under the condition that there exists another person in the future who
is known to top have depicted a psychological evolution from the former person. The
philosopher suggests that the alter-ego of a person is not another person in existence. The alter-
ego is one of the psychological identities that are essential for the existence of the existence of
the concerned human being. On the other hand, Reid suggests that the memory of the person
does not affect the personal identity of the person in discussion. The personal identity of the
person cannot be analyzed by any means. The philosopher however opines that the memory of
the person is helpful in providing the personalized and first-hand account of the presence of the
personal identity of the person (LoLordo). The philosopher argues that the memory of the given
person tends to help the person develop an identity of one’s won through the past memories of
the person.
Critique on Reid’s criticism
Reid states that the memory of the person plays a greater role in the development of the
personal identity of the person. The philosopher attributes the development of the person to the
memory of the person regarding the past events that has helped the person in shaping the life and

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the personal identity of the person himself. The personal identity of the person according to Reid
cannot be analyzed by any means. Reid states that the memory of the person is helpful in
providing the personalized and first-hand account of the presence of the personal identity of the
person (Boeker). The Scottish philosopher further argues that the memory of the given person
tends to help the person develop an identity of one’s own through the past memories of the
person. On the other hand, the other experts in the realm of the personal identity of a human
being state that the memory of the human being is one of the aspects that help in determining and
shaping of the identity of the person. However, there exists other factors as well that help in
shaping the identity of the concerned human being. The Scottish philosopher also states that the
human beings refer to an idea that they had experienced in the past and not just an event (Beck).
The recollection of these ideas thus tends to be stringed together to help in determining the
memory of an event that had influenced the psyche of the person.
Conclusion
In lieu of the above discussion it might be stated that the personal identity of a human
being is dependent on an array of factors. The co-existence of the human physique and the
human psyche together is responsible for the existence of human being in the real world as well
as in the philosophical realms. The personal identity states that the person might survive out of a
certain situation in life only under the condition that there exists another person in the future who
is known to top have depicted a psychological evolution from the former person.

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