Topics Identity

Question Is there anything existing within or beyond the human body/mind that can be called "I"? If so, exactly where is "I" located?

Accepted:
April 10, 2006

Comments

We naturally think of the world as made up of things with properties. Take my black pen: the pen is the thing and being black is the property. But metaphysicians disagree about whether at the end of the day there are things entirely distinct from properties. Some say you need some kind of substance to have properties; others say that a pen is really just bundles of properties: its colour, weight, shape, composition, etc.

It's the same with our mental life. I have a headache: "I" is the thing, and having a headache is its property. But some philosophers would say that although we distinguish between the thought and the thinker, at the end of the day the "I" -- the thinker -- is really just a bundle of thoughts. (Insofar as it exists at all.) In that case, I suppose that the "I" would be located in the same place as those thoughts. Other philosophers may wish to insist however that the "I" must be distinct from the thoughts it has: it must be some kind of substance. It might be a physical substance or it might be a mental substance. So presumably a substance "I" would be in the same place as the body or the mind.

Question Is there anything existing within or beyond the human body/mind that can be called "I"? If so, exactly where is "I" located? Accepted:April 10, 2006

Question Is there anything existing within or beyond the human body/mind that can be called "I"? If so, exactly where is "I" located?

Accepted:
April 10, 2006