A Solution to the Problem of Personal Identity in the Metaphysics of Thomas Aquinas

Proceedings of the American Catholic Philosophical Association 75:121-134 (2001)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

This paper presents a solution to the problem of personal identity over time in Thomas’s metaphysics. I argue that Professor Gracia’s solution to the problem of personal identity, existence, and Professor Stump’s solution, form or the human soul, are not only compatible but also necessarily interdependent on one another. This argument rests on (1) the special nature of the human soul, and (2) the metaphysical claim that for Thomas the human soul and existence are inseparable. First, I refine the problem of personal identity and briefly clarify some important distinctions. Second, I present Gracia’s arguments for the principle of existence (esse) being the criterion of personal identity over time in Thomas’s metaphysics. Third, I explain Stump’s arguments for form being the principle of personal identity over time in Thomas’s metaphysics, and show how Stump’s solution can answer some of the objections that Gracia presents. Finally, I argue that, according to Thomas, the soul of an individual human person and that person’s existence embrace one another with the strength of self-identity, and that it is correct and not inconsistent to say that both the human soul and existence are the cause and principle of personal identity over time in the metaphysics of Thomas.

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 90,221

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Similar books and articles

Identifying the problem of personal identity.Ned Markosian - 2010 - In Joseph Keim Campbell, Michael O'Rourke & Harry Silverstein (eds.), Time and Identity. MIT Press. pp. 129.
Personal identity, fission and time travel.John Wright - 2006 - Philosophia 34 (2):129-142.
Personal Identity.John Perry (ed.) - 1975 - Berkeley: University of California Press.
The social nature of personal identity.Michael Quante - 2007 - Journal of Consciousness Studies 14 (5-6):56-76.
Advance Directives and Personal Identity: What Is the Problem?E. Furberg - 2012 - Journal of Medicine and Philosophy 37 (1):60-73.
Personal Identity.Harold W. Noonan - 1989 - New York: Routledge.
What Was Hume’s Problem with Personal Identity?Abraham Sesshu Roth - 2000 - Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 61 (1):91-114.
Disembodied minds and personal identity.Thomas W. Smythe - 1988 - Philosophy Research Archives 14:415-423.

Analytics

Added to PP
2011-12-01

Downloads
129 (#130,203)

6 months
13 (#117,898)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Citations of this work

No citations found.

Add more citations

References found in this work

No references found.

Add more references