The essay by John Locke is dedicated to various aspects of human understanding and knowledge. In the chapter on identity and diversity, John Locke investigates the theme of personal identity. The philosopher explains that anything existing at one time or place is equal to itself at some other time or place. According to Locke, two entities of the same sort cannot exist simultaneously, and no one can be present in several different places at the same time. As one entity never has two beginnings of existence, two entities with different origins are defined as diverse. The author further develops the understanding of three fundamental substances: God, Finite Intelligences, and Bodies. God is “without beginning, eternal, unalterable, and everywhere,” so his identity is determined and undoubted (Locke, 1995, p. 2). Finite Spirits exist in a particular place and time, so their identities stem from their location and time. Particles of Matter constitute Bodies, so two or more things can exist synchronously when combined into one.
The philosopher expands the central issue of diversity and claims that the concepts of motion and thought are also diverse as they belong to Finite Beings. Thus, each action of a person is different depending on a given place or a moment of time. The notion of existence is referred to as Principium Individuationis, which is a mixture of unique characteristics of any individual. The origins of the Self stem from the idea that a person is a “thinking intelligent being,” so consciousness is the foundation of personal identity (Locke, 1995, p. 9). Consciousness belongs to a person and “unites substances, material, and spiritual, with the same personality” (Locke, 1995, p. 24). Therefore, an individual, according to Locke, is a union of the body and the soul.
David Hume’s reflection on personal identity begins with his understanding of the Self. Hume disagrees with the philosophers who argue that people are constantly conscious of their identities. The author claims that the central issue of the Self depends on individual perception. When perception is gone in case of sleep or death, human feelings, thoughts, or the Self cease to exist, and a person becomes a non-entity (Hume, 2004). Hume views people as sources of various perceptions, which continuously change when affected by the senses. The philosopher compares the human mind to a theatre where multiple perceptions introduce themselves and play their roles in different situations. According to Hume, perfect identity has no connection with the notion of diversity, which produces changes in objects and destroys their identity. Therefore, perfect identity cannot be varied and interrupted by the changes in perceptions.
Hume states that any change can destroy the perfect identity, but the intensity of the effect produced by the change might be different. For instance, when the change is gradual, its impact on the object is less pronounced compared to the rapid and dramatic change. Gradual transformations during different stages of human development or the growth of a plant, preserve the identity of the object, while its characteristics change. The human mind makes different perceptions lose their distinction, as the personal identity merges them into one concept or idea, and connects them based on resemblance. Hume concludes that since identity depends on ideas, the change cannot be avoided, so the perfect identity is merely a verbal or intellectual concept that does not exist in the natural world.
References
Hume, D. (2004). A treatise of human nature. Dover Publications.
Locke, J. (1995). An essay concerning human understanding (2nd ed.). Prometheus Books.