The University of Edinburgh | Professor John Dupré Lecture Four: Personal Identity @EdinburghUniversity | Uploaded February 2024 | Updated October 2024, 13 hours ago.
Whatever the problems in saying what the boundaries of the organism might be at a time, we cannot avoid a question about the persistence of the organism through time. What makes me the same person as a child who existed several decades ago? Professor Dupré's starting point for addressing this question is the position that has recently been defended as animalism: the continuity of a person over time is just the continuity of a certain kind of animal. The position is, however, substantially modified when combined with the view than an animal, human or otherwise, is a process. He shall elaborate this synthesis, which he describe as “processual animalism”. Professor Dupré shall further consider what implications this position might have for ideas of personal responsibility and for the possibility of massive life extension.

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