A person may be called the same person by "a continual Superaddition of the like Consciousness ... Just as a Ship is called the same Ship, after the whole Substance is changed by frequent Repairs; or a River is called the same River, though the Water of it be every Day new."
— Clarke, Samuel (1675-1729)
Author
Work Title
Date
1738
Metaphor
A person may be called the same person by "a continual Superaddition of the like Consciousness ... Just as a Ship is called the same Ship, after the whole Substance is changed by frequent Repairs; or a River is called the same River, though the Water of it be every Day new."
Metaphor in Context
That the Person may still be the same, by a continual Superaddition of the like Consciousness; notwithstanding the whole Substance be changed: Then I say, you make individual Personality to be a mere external imaginary Denomination, and nothing in reality: Just as a Ship is called the same Ship, after the whole Substance is changed by frequent Repairs; or a River is called the same River, though the Water of it be every Day new ... But he cannot be really and truly the same Person, unless the same individual numerical Consciousness can be transferred from one Subject to another. For, the continued Addition or Exciting of a like Consciousness in the new acquired Parts, after the Manner you suppose; is nothing but a Deception and Delusion, under the form of Memory; a making the Man to seem himself to be conscious of having done that, which really was not done by him, but by another.
(844)
(844)
Categories
Provenance
Reading Raymond Martin and Cyril Barresi, Naturalization of the Soul: Self and Personality in the Eighteenth Century (London and New York: Routledge, 2000), 35.
Date of Entry
10/25/2004
