Advice for teachers -
Philosophy

Unit 3 – Area of Study 2: Personal identity

Outcome 2:

Analyse, compare and evaluate viewpoints and arguments on personal identity in the set texts and discuss related contemporary debates.

Examples of learning activities

Prior to reading the set texts, discuss the following questions: Are you the same person you were when you were one year old? 12 years old? Will you be the same person when you are 80 years old? Explain the responses. Record and discuss the qualities of identity and personhood that are considered to be central for identity.
Write a series of notes that relate the key arguments presented in each of the set texts to the arguments considered in other relevant texts on personal identity.
Draw a concept map that identifies the major similarities and differences between the key arguments presented in each of the set texts and their relationship to the conditions for identity commonly explored: the body, the brain and psychological continuity.
Examine a philosophical essay on personal identity and annotate the features of the work. Write an essay in response to the themes or arguments examined.
Visit the Philosophy Experiments website and access the game 'Staying Alive'. Complete the online thought experiment. Discuss how the set text philosophers would respond to the various stages of the thought experiment.
Take notes and make annotations from an article in the Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy website: Olson, Eric T, 'Personal Identity', The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Summer 2017 Edition), Edward N Zalta (ed.) .
Discuss the place of thought experiments in philosophy. Consider, for example, whether they operate as an illustration for an argument or as an argument itself.
Use visual images, pictures of members of the class or other portraits, to stimulate group discussion on personal identity, the necessary features, sufficient features and other relevant dimensions.
Write a 'choose your own adventure' story which explores the nature of personal identity by choosing various paths through the story. The stories could make reference to various contemporary applications for the philosophy of personal identity such as cloning, organ transplants, gender reassignment, cosmetic surgery, memory loss or the after-life. A suitable program for creating these kinds of stories is 'Twine'.
Visit the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) or the Immigration Museum and view exhibited works on the theme of identity and belonging. While doing so, reflect on key concepts of Unit 3 Area of Study 2 and the arguments of the set texts.
Watch an episode of 'Who Do You Think You Are?' or an episode from the 'Seven Up!' series. Record, note and discuss the qualities of identity and personhood that are considered to be central for identity featured in the program's episode.
Construct or find a visual representation of personal identity (for example, a comic or an image) and present it to the class to illustrate a conception of personhood from the set texts.
Listen to a speaker (or multiple speakers in a forum) before sharing and discussing their understanding of personhood and its relevance for a range of different fields. For example, speakers could be from various areas such as literature, medicine, law, sociology, psychology as well as philosophy. Ask questions of the panel.
Write (and perform) a dialogue discussing a contemporary debate related to the philosophy of personal identity.
Respond in writing or with a speech to a prompt such as: Has your identity been determined by your genes or are you simply created by your experiences? Is it determined by both? Do you consider one aspect stronger than the other? Why or why not?
Develop a PowerPoint presentation or Prezi that outlines and discusses how a set text philosopher would respond to a contemporary issue related to personal identity. For example, examine and analyse a contemporary debate on cloning, or the implications and challenges this technology raises for the conception of personhood.
Use graphic organisers such as concept maps or Venn diagrams to create an overview of ideas and arguments associated with personhood and identity, and compare and contrast ideas from the set texts.
Imagine one of the set text philosophers has been charged with a crime and finds themselves in court. Their defence is 'I wasn't myself!' Another set text philosopher is the prosecutor. Write a script of the trial.
Try to live believing that there is no such thing as personal identity for a few hours. Record in a journal the responses and feelings that this change of perspective entails. Is it possible to have no personal identity? Does this suggest anything of relevance to the philosophical debate over identity?
Write a cloze exercise summarising the main argument of one of the set text philosophers and give it to another student to complete.
Outline the key arguments presented in each of the set texts in standard form. Expand these notes, evaluating the key arguments presented in each of the set texts by indicating important flaws in the logic or reasoning used by the philosopher studied. For example, examine the validity of an argument.
Complete a collaborative note-taking exercise; for example, a Four Corners task.
Watch and listen to a YouTube lecture on the nature of persons; for example, 'The nature of persons: dualism vs physicalism', Professor Shelly Kagan, Yale University. Discuss the significance of the question: Is there life after death? How does this question help us to understand what the self is? How do the concepts of physicalism and dualism help to understand selfhood?
Undertake a Community of Inquiry on personal identity. The methodology of a Community of Inquiry can be found at The Community of Inquiry Blog.
Use films that draw on philosophical concepts and ideas to stimulate discussion about the nature of personal identity. For example: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), Moon (2009), Memento (2000), The 6th Day (2000), Freaky Friday (2003), 17 Again (2009), The Island (2005), Being John Malkovich (1999), Robocop (1987/2014), Total Recall (1990/2012) or Suddenly 30 (2004). Check each film's rating and seek permission from school/parents if required before viewing the film.

Detailed example 1

The use of thought experiments

Activity 1:

In their texts, Locke, Michaels and Hume pose a number of thought experiments to illustrate their arguments concerning the nature of personal identity. First, students discuss the following:

What is the value of a thought experiment in philosophy?
Is a thought experiment an argument or merely an illustration?
Usually thought experiments cannot actually be conducted in real life. Does this undermine the conclusions they seek to illustrate?

Activity 2:

One of the oldest thought experiments is the 'Ship of Theseus'. The thought experiment describes a ship that remained seaworthy for hundreds of years thanks to constant repairs and replacement parts. As soon as one plank became old and rotted, it would be replaced, and so on until every working part of the ship was replaced and no longer original. A more modern example would be a band that had evolved over the years to the point that few or no original members remained in the line-up. This notion is also applicable to everything from a business (that might retain the same name despite mergers and changes in leadership) to the human body, which is constantly regenerating and rebuilding itself, or even art restoration. At its heart, the experiment forces one to question the commonly held idea that identity is solely contained in physical objects and phenomena. Students can consider and answer the following questions:

Is this end product still the same Ship of Theseus, or something completely new and different? If it is the latter, at what point did it stop being the same ship?
The philosopher Thomas Hobbes would later take the problem even further: if one were to take all the old parts removed from the Ship of Theseus and build a new ship from them, then which of the two vessels is the real Ship of Theseus?
Or as a variation on Hobbes: if the Ship of Theseus was dismantled and reassembled exactly as it was but now in a museum, is it still the same ship? Has its function determined a new identity for the ship? Is function a fundamental criterion for identity?

Students discuss this thought experiment and relate it to the arguments of Locke, Michaels and Hume on personal identity where possible.

Activity 3:

Students construct an original thought experiment on a hypothetical scenario relevant to the set texts or one that tests the essential arguments from the set texts. These can be printed or otherwise shared with the class. As a class, students discuss the thought experiments and consider what they suggest about personal identity.

Extension:

At the conclusion of these activities, students return to the questions in Activity 1 about the value of thought experiments in philosophy. They consider whether or not their viewpoint on their use has changed and why (or why not).

Detailed example 2

Four corners task

At each of the four corners of the classroom, place a piece of blank poster or butcher's paper.
Divide students into small groups of four or five and assign each group to a corner.
Ask each group to discuss and write down their answers to the following questions:

Round 1: What is a person, and what is it that makes someone the same person over time?

Once each group has discussed this question and written a response, they pass their paper to the next group. Allow each group a minute to read and evaluate what has been written by the previous group and then record their own additions (such as reasons, evidence, objections and counter evidence). Then, ask each group to consider the next question, discussing and then writing their response to the following:

Round 2: Summarise one set text philosopher's argument on personal identity.

Swap and evaluate as before.

Round 3: Is the self a unified entity? Explain your response.