The Problem of Personal Identity in Metaphysics

Abstract

Although Western Philosophical tradition ascribes the invention of the problem of identity to John Locke, it has remained one of the fundamental questions within the parameters of enquiry in Metaphysics, Epistemology and Philosophy of Mind. It is one that has remained evergreen right from the Pre-Socratic Epoch to the Contemporary Era. It is in fact one of the perennial problems in philosophy and a celebrated discourse in the enterprise of the Philosophy of Mind. The question of personal identity takes us back to the value content of the first principle of being, which is the principle of identity. This principle states that every being is determined in itself, is one with itself and consistent in itself. Therefore every being is one with itself and divided from others. In this piece, the researcher studies the historical development of the concept of personal identity in the area of Metaphysics. This research stems from Ancient Era to the Contemporary Epoch. At the end of the study, the researcher discovers that the study of personal identity opens us up to two apertures of knowledge, one Epistemological and the other Metaphysical.

Keywords: personal; identity; Metaphysics; problem; philosophy