A Philosophical Exploration of Personal Identity: Locke and Reid

This essay delves into the philosophical concept of personal identity, focusing on the contrasting viewpoints of John Locke and Thomas Reid. It begins by exploring Locke's arguments on substances, souls, and the principle of individuation, highlighting his distinction between the place-time-kind principle and the unique nature of individual souls. The essay then examines Locke's concept of personal identity, emphasizing its relation to the self, consciousness, and the implications for punishment and accountability. Furthermore, the essay presents Thomas Reid's critique of Locke's memory-based theory of personal identity, arguing that Locke's emphasis on hypothetical relationships overlooks the influence of current situations and environmental factors in shaping one's identity. Finally, the essay concludes by justifying Reid's objections, emphasizing that personal identity is not solely a product of memory but is also influenced by the present circumstances and the ongoing process of socialization.

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

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Table of Contents
Introduction....................................................................................................................2
Locke’s argument on substances or mere souls.............................................................2
Locke’s concept of personal identity and its relation to the self, consciousness and
punishment.....................................................................................................................3
Reid’s criticism of Locke’s concept of personal identity...............................................4
Justification of Reid’s objection.....................................................................................5
Conclusion......................................................................................................................5
References:.....................................................................................................................7

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Introduction
Human beings are considered to be one of the most intelligent and rational
creatures on the surface of the Earth. This mainly stems from the fact that they are
able to reason out their actions. Furthermore, one of the most unique characterizing
features of individuals is the emotions which are inherent to them. It is such emotions
which helps to shape their identity and personality (Noonan, 2019). The element of
identity of the individuals has been discussed upon by many philosophers of the
community. They consider such identity to be the distinguishing aspect which helps to
differentiate one individual from that of the other. The purpose of this paper is to
understand the concept of personal identity as discussed by John Locke. Furthermore,
the criticism posed by Thomas Reid has also been looked in to to get a holistic
understanding of the idea of identity.
Locke’s argument on substances or mere souls
John Locke is considered to be one of the most well-renowned philosophical
thinkers who propounded the Social Contract Theory (Boeker, 2017). In the theory
advocated by him, he has laid considerable stress and emphasis on the importance of
the individuals in forming a society. In this regard, Locke has written a separate book
which deals with the significance of individuals in the society.
Locke begins his argument by clearly distinguishing between the principle of
individuation and that of the place time kind principle. The place-time-kind principle
states that no two elements of the same nature can be found in one place at the same
time (Thiel, 2019). Similarly, Locke stipulates that no two individuals of the same
characterizing feature can be found in two various places at the same time.

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This is due to the fact that the individuals have their own unique souls. He does
not believe that the souls of people simply exist for the purpose of existing. In other
words, he denies the substance aspect of souls (Gordon-Roth, 2019). Rather,
according to him, the soul of every individual is different from each other and have a
purpose that they need to fulfill for the grater cause of the society. The ‘idea’ to the
aspect of ‘soul’ needs to be understood in order to get a comprehensive picture of the
concept of individuation.
Locke’s concept of personal identity and its relation to the self, consciousness and
punishment
John Locke had a unique theory which helped to define the meaning of a
‘person’. According to him, ‘person’ does not simply refer to an individual who has a
consciousness (Fuller, Stecker & Wright, 2019). Rather. A ‘person’ refers to that
individual who can be held accountable for his or her actions. In other words, he
emphasized on the aspect of the ‘self’. It is because of the fact that an individual can
think about themselves to be persistent over the time periods that they have the ability
to act, plan for the future and desire for rewards or punishment based on the kind of
activities they participate in (Jolley, 2017).
A corresponding idea that emerges from the idea of the ‘self’ and ‘person’ is that
of ‘consciousness’. According to John Locke, the element of consciousness is linked
to the idea of the self (Boeker, 2016). An individual has the capability to think and
reason out because of the conscious that he or she possess.
Locke stated that it is the aspect of consciousness which helped to differentiate
between the selves of the society. The actions and the behaviour as exhibited by the
individuals of the society are considered to be stemming from their consciousness.

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Furthermore, the acts which are executed by the individuals are either worthy of
reward and punishment (Roache, 2016). Each society have their own moral standards
and customs and traditions which needs to be adhered to. In the event that any
individual fails to abide by them and act in a manner which is considered to be
socially undesirable, then they are invariably punished by the other members of the
society. In this regard, it needs to be seen that the acts of the individuals are based on
the preconceived notions of morality of the society and the rules and regulations
which are formulated by them.
Thus, the element of personal identity, as opinionated by John Locke, is found to
have close relationships with the ideas of ‘self’, ‘consciousness’ and ‘punishment’
(Fuller, Stecker & Wright, 2019). All of them flow in to the other and imparts a
distinguishing character to the person under scrutiny.
Reid’s criticism of Locke’s concept of personal identity
Both Reid and Locke were interested in the idea of episodic memory as it had a
direct linkage to the element of personal identity (Sattig, 2018). For instance, if a
person remembers doing something, then the chances are that he or she existed during
the time the phenomenon occurred.
The primary criticism of Reid of Locke’s notion of personal identity is that Locke
is found to be more interested in the hypothetical and metaphysical relationship
between concepts and evidences. Reid believes that Locke is more concerned about
the Memory theory of personal identity (Noonan, 2019). In other words, the personal
identity of a person is situated more in the memory. A person is able to develop their
character by relying on their memory with regards to how they felt and behaved in
certain situations that had already occurred in the past.

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However, this was refuted by Reid. He believed that in the event that two persons
had the exact same memory with regard to a particular event, then it would lead to the
development of the exact same personality in them (Fuller, Stecker & Wright, 2019).
However, this is not possible since the personalty of one individual invariably
differentiates from the personality of another individual.
Justification of Reid’s objection
The criticism of Locke which has been advocated by Reid is justified to a
considerable extent. The personal identity of any individual is not solely the response
of their memory. It depends more on the current situation and the various aspects of
the surrounding environment that leads to its development. Locke emphasized more
on the memory theory of personal identity while Reid visualized the episodic theory
of personal identity (Fuller, Stecker & Wright, 2019). Thus, he was able to formulate
a more direct and realist theory of personal identity of the individuals.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it can be observed that the idea of personal identity was advocated
by John Locke based on the belief that the consciousness of every individual is
different. The characteristic features and personality which differentiates between the
people of the society emerges from their thought process and the way they conceive
of themselves. This, to a large extent, depends upon the process of socialization that
they receive from the other members of the community. For instance, a person is more
likely to reward himself or herself if they adhere to the various customs and traditions
which are approved by the community. On the other hand, punishment is meted out
when such individuals are found to be engaged in certain undesirable social actions.

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In this sense, the paper has talked about the the idea of personal identity as envisaged
by Locke and Reid’s criticism of such an idea.

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References:
Boeker, R. (2016). The Role of Appropriation in Locke's Account of Persons and
Personal Identity.
Boeker, R. (2017). Locke on Personal Identity: a Response to the Problems of his
Predecessors. Journal of the History of Philosophy, 55(3), 407-434.
Fuller, G., Stecker, R., & Wright, J. P. (Eds.). (2019). John Locke: En Essay
Concerning Human Understanding in Focus. Routledge.
Gordon-Roth, J. (2019). Locke on Personal Identity.
Jolley, N. (2017). Consciousness in Locke, by Shelley Weinberg.
Noonan, H. (2019). Personal identity: the simple and complex views
revisited. Disputatio, 1(ahead-of-print).
Noonan, H. W. (2019). Personal identity. Routledge.
Roache, R. (2016). Memory and mineness in personal identity. Philosophical
Psychology, 29(4), 479-489.
Sattig, T. (2018). The Sense and Reality of Personal Identity. Erkenntnis, 83(6), 1139-
1155.
Thiel, U. (2019). Locke: epistemology and metaphysics. Routledge.