2/26/2013 11:18:43 am
This essay was pretty fascinating. I've never heard of a brain transplant or anything close to it but according to this essay it is accurate. This article contradicts itself with the body theory namely because the body theory in short states that, same body, same person. So since the body changes it would not be a body theory. Anyways a Dr. R. J. White transplanted a monkey's head on to another monkeys body. He states that technically human head transplants are possible. This stretches the medical sciences beliefs that have been believed till' now. A Mr.Brown and a Mr.Robinson both were operated for brain tumors but the doctor inadvertently switched brains with them both. One of them dies right away while the person with Robinson's body and Brown's brain survives. He lives through Robinson's body with a different brain. The article then shifts to an interview with a character names Vesey and Parfit. Vesey is the character that sees the world as black and white in a way. He thinks that things happen or don't happen, he exists or does not exist, there is no in-between whereas Parfit thinks that there is no answer to such questions and that life is a puzzle. Parfit talks about a case where he would split his brain in half and transplant each half into a separate body. He wonders if he would live on as both people, one person, or neither. All three possibilities have their doubts. Living on as two people is somewhat contradicting because each person will live a different live therefore one person can't be both, because if he were to be both people, they would have be the same. Now living on as one is also a stretch because why would he be able to be one person and the other one just wouldn't exist. And well if he is neither, then he simply would not cease to exist. So the question of psychological continuity is somewhat mysterious and unanswerable.
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Knute Meyer
2/27/2013 07:16:54 am
Brain Transplants and Personal Identity by Derek Parfit and Godfrey Vesey, is a very interesting and insightful essay that gives you a different view on the practices that take place in the name of science. The experiments that take place are quite disturbing yet intreging. Dr. R.J. White's experiment was conducted with monkeys. He trandsplanted the monkey's head onto the body another monkey. He draws parallels to human experimentation, believing that the same thing result could be accoplished on a human. The hypotheticle situation invovling Mr Brown and Mr Robinson illistrates the soul theory, that we can live on without our body. The essay then changes tone to the idea of personal identity. Versey and Parfit see the world in two very different views. Versey doesn't disect or ask questions of whats around him. He accepts everything for what it is and doesn't worry about it. Parfit on the other hand believes there is no solid answer for anything. They discuss a situation where each half of Parfit's brain is transplanted into a new body and the two resulting people will both seem to remember is whole life. He araises the question "what will happen to me?" and believes that question is unanswerable. This essay brings up many questions but there truley is no answer to satisfie the need to know whats going to happen, it is simply part of the mystery.
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Alex Perez
2/27/2013 07:23:10 am
In Derek Parfit and Godfrey Vesey's Brain Transplants and Personal Identity, the procedure of brain transplants is explored. This is a very informative essay that gives readers an idea of how the impossible can become possible - brains can actually be switched. The experiment performed by Dr. R.J. White is both unsettling and eye-opening. In his procedure, he manages to switch the heads of two monkeys. He then goes on to state that this could potentially be done on two human subjects. This is an extremely controversial topic, and in the essay, the following situation is presented hypothetically: Mr. Brown and Mr. Robinson's brains are switched. Mr. Robinson passes away, but Mr. Brown lives on through Mr. Robinson's body. This instance demonstrates the soul theory - While Mr. Brown ended up in Mr. Robinson's body, he was still the same person. Our bodies are only vessels for the people we are. All of our memories and personality traits, as well as our soul, live on through the brain. If the captain of a ship switches vessels, he is still the same captain. In the Personal Identity portion, both Parfit and Vesey are interviewing each other on the topic of personal identity. Vesey has a sort of "feast or famine" type of view: He will either exist or not exist, and will either experience something or won't. He believes that there is no spectrum in between these things. To him, either something is, or isn't. Parfit has a more open-minded point of view. He thinks that there is no definite answer to any given question. Parfit then presents this question: "Suppose that each half of my brain is to be transplanted into a new body and the two resulting people will both seem to remember the whole of my life, have my character and be psychologically continuous with me in every way. What's going to happen to me?" Although Parfit raises an interesting question, none of the answers he gives are very feasible. To have two halves of the brain both retain exactly the same amount of information (i.e. memories, thought processes, etc.) is absurd. If this crazy scenario did actually take place, and was actually real, then there would be many problems. What about the soul theory? Would his soul be split into to halves? The answer that makes the most sense is that his soul would cease to exist, yet his body (his captain) would basically be cloned in a way into two other bodies. He would basically have two ships to pilot as two different people. Overall, this was a very intriguing article, and has some very interesting food for thought. With Vesey's black and white views and Parfit's large imagination, good questions came up. In the end, life is just a puzzle, and there really is no definite, 100% correct answer to anything.
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Julia Torres
2/27/2013 01:53:32 pm
In the article "Brain Transplants and Personal Identity" by Derek Parfit and Godfrey Vesey, I got a good insight about personal identity. Vesey says that whatever happens between now and some future time, he either shall or shall not exist. Parfit argues that in actual life it is obvious on reflection that the relations between him now and himself next year are much closer in every way than the relations between him now and himself in twenty years. He says that, "Next year, I shall remember much more of this year than I will in twenty years. I shall have a much more similar character." However, both agree that if somehow they changed into a completely different sort of person, it would still be them. And if they lose that belief that would be a change itself. Derek own view is expressed in terms of a relationship called "psychological continuity". All in all, I really enjoyed reading this article and getting to know others point of view on personal identity.
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Sofie Pearson
2/27/2013 04:31:48 pm
This article definitely works at trying to understand the true meaning of identity and the issue of mind vs. body in one's identity. Its fascinating to think that someone's brain can be transplanted into someone else's head and essentially that person's identity would be transplanted as well. In the example thats given in this article with Mr. Brown and Mr. Robinson the belief that the mind or soul holds true identity is supported. I don't know if I agree that this type of thing is really possible because its never been tested, but it would be a great philosophical experiment on the idea of identity. After this, the article continues by discussing the possibility of having two people with parts of the same brain transplanted to them and the affects or implications of that situation. Parfit believes that "psychological continuity" and "q-memory" are two key factors in the idea of identity and if these factors in the case that two people have the similar brains, than he suggests that they can have the identity. This supports the memory theory. Then Vesey and Parfit have a conversation and debate almost on their thoughts and questions of identity. Vesey says and supports his thoughts that, "In other words, personal identity is an all or nothing matter; either I survive or I don't." Therefore, he thinks that there is no middle ground in the topic of identity. Parfit discusses and, I think, believes that identity lies in the mind and the restrictions of this idea are sort of vague. He thinks that an identity can survive in other people's bodies through brain transplants because there is psychological continuity and "nothing is missing at all in my relation to both of them, as compared with my relation to myself tomorrow." Vesey and Parfit's conversation keeps going and they question each other and all sorts of ideas around this topic and eventually get to some sort of conclusion that we do not forever remain the same and we are constantly changing even if we feel like a part of us has remained. I think this article is super interesting and it raises a lot of questions to the idea of identity.
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Lili
2/28/2013 02:07:16 am
In Identity and Brain Transplants, Derek Parfit and Godfrey Vesey discuss two situations regarding brain transplants-first where a persons brain is moved into another’s body and secondly where each half goes into separate people. While addressing the theoretical situations, Parfit and Vesey reveal their points of view on both the idea of the hypothetical experiment and their personal opinions on identity. Our group agreed with Vesey who believed that if his brain was transplanted then he would either fully remain himself, or his personal identity would be completely lost. This seemed to make the most logical sense. When Parfit brought in the idea of each half of a person’s brain going to a different person we didn’t think that they would keep the original person’s identity. Vesey uses the idea of psychological continuity to support his belief in the one-to-one brain transplant case.
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Jessica neal
3/19/2013 03:41:01 pm
The article immediately had me question about brain transplant. Would you still be yourself? What about the memories, the mind, or soul? The article doesn't answer these questions because brain transplants doesn't exist, but it gives interesting examples of what could happen...The example of Mr. Brown and Mr. Robinson where their brains were switched by accident and Mr. Brown with Robinson's brain dies and and Robinson with Browns brain regains consciousness is really interesting. Robinson with Browns brain, knowing nothing of Mr. Robinson's life, realizes he isn't in his body that he knew he had originally but still he recognizes Brown's life events and family. This example shows that all of who we are is just our brain and our bodies are just what we come with, like a carrier, in order to live in a world. This supports the mind and soul theory of true identity..The second example comes in to the conversation with Parfit and Vesey. Parfit explains that if a brain was split in half and put into two different bodies, there is only three possibilities to the question of "What's going to happen to me?" He explains that he is either both of the people, one of the people, or neither at all. The first possibility contradicts because each person is different and will live different lives, so how could one brain be two people at the same time? Only being one of the people wouldn't work either because that would make one of them not to exist at all. They came to conclusion that the true identity of the original person would be lost because of constant change, but the psychological continuity would live on.
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