ipl-logo

Where Am I Daniel Dennett Analysis

693 Words3 Pages

In Daniel Dennett’s Essay “Where am I”, Dennett is struggling with the philosophical question of who his identity is truly given to whether it is Yorick, Hamlet (when he was still “alive”), Hubert, or Fortinbras. Based upon the (3) alternative conclusions to his question, his (Dennett’s) identity is essentially based upon his point-of-view, the content of the situation he is in and the thoughts and beliefs going through his mind at that specific moment.

After the doctors and support team completed the operation and removed Dennett’s brain, he requests he is taken to see it. While sitting in his chair in front of the vat the thought of “here I am…staring through plate glass at my own brain” (Dennett, 312) crosses his mind. This leads Dennett …show more content…

He then questions this and the thought “here I am, suspending in a bubbling fluid, being stared at by my own eyes” (Dennett, 312) arises, which leads to alternative (2) that identity is given to the brain, Yorick. Unfortunately, alternative (2) is also incorrect seeing as if …show more content…

The problem with one’s point of view is that it can easily be manipulated and shifted, for example, if an individual is watching a scary movie, they will react and feel as though they are going through the same situation as the characters (Dennett, 317). This seems to be an unclear thought to Dennett, although this is hardly a weakness, but something that is beneficial to one’s identity. Our point of view can be shifted, just as Dennett was trying to do with Hubert and Yorick, switching from inside the vat to outside. Although this didn’t work very well for him, once Hubert lost all his transceivers, he “changed location from Tulsa to Houston at the speed of light” (Dennett, 317). While his body was stuck under the ground, Dennett was able to think himself back into the vat, essentially saving himself from being buried “alive”. Considering the point of view of any individual is quite flexible, it can be easy to get physically lost, but in reassurance, they really are not lost at all, since they would be right there in their

Show More
Related
1231 Words | 5 Pages

And due the fact that Strawson think that “The concept of a person is logically prior to that of an individual consciousness” (Strawson, 1958/1981, p.109) is that, finally Hamlet can talk to Yorick’s skull: “We speak of a dead person –a body- and in the same seconday way we might at least think of a disembodied person, retainging the logical benefit of individuality from having been a person” (Strawson, 1958/1981, p.109), and we can talk to the bodies of the love ones has pass

Read More
1186 Words | 5 Pages

For thousands of years, people have puzzled over the question “What gives something its identity?” There are several different lines of philosophical thinking that seek to answer this question. Some people believe that an item’s identity is derived from its material composition. Others support a more objective viewpoint that it is others’ memories of something that gives it its identity, or one’s own personal memories. In The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, Jean-Dominique Bauby experiences a situation which could lead someone to question his identity.

Read More
2470 Words | 10 Pages

Through his search for an identity and a sense

Read More
773 Words | 4 Pages

In “A Dialogue on Personal Identity and Immortality”, Gretchen Weirob and Sam Miller conduct a philosophical debate about the possibility of a continued existence after death. Weirob argues that she herself cannot exist after death because her identity is composed of her body, rationality, and consciousness. In Derek Parfit’s “Personal Identity” he ponders how the concept of identity works, and how the true nature of our identity affects some of the most important questions we have about our existence. I believe that Velleman did a better job of exploring the idea of identity than Weirob did.

Read More
651 Words | 3 Pages

Many people believe if one is lost they can not fix it. However , the song “Lost Boy” proves differently. There are many tales about being lost within oneself. Many tales about individuals being lost do not have a good outcome. When people go from being kids to adults, sometimes they wonder about the world and how one could fit in.

Read More
852 Words | 4 Pages

Daniel Dennett is an American philosopher that wrote a science-fiction narrative in which his brain is removed from his body, but he is still alive. I will go into detail about how the actions in the story affected Dennett and provide insight on the questions it posed. Daniel Dennett’s “Where Am I?” is a famous philosophical science-fiction story where Dennett gets his brain removed. He then asks himself why is he conscious in his body and not in his brain. This causes multiple explanations and possible answers to arise.

Read More
1423 Words | 6 Pages

The argument of whether or not a human has a soul has been argued throughout centuries. Derek Parfit discusses two separate theories of personal identity, Ego Theory and Bundle Theory. The argument of which present a more accurate account of personhood is very hard to determine. The Ego Theory has some flaws such the soul is separate from the body and is a immaterialist object within us. Bundle Theory is reinforced and proven by the split-brain case, however it can lead to the argument that there is no self.

Read More
1354 Words | 6 Pages

Derek Parfit is a British philosopher who specialises in problems of personal identity and he proposes that we separate the notions of identity and survival. He is one of the most prominent philosophers in the struggle to define the self. Parfit’s 1971 essay “Personal Identity” targets two common beliefs which are central to the earliest conversations about personal identity. The first belief is about the nature of personal identity; all questions regarding this must have an answer. Between now and any future time, it is either the case that “I shall exist or I shall not”.

Read More
804 Words | 4 Pages

Sennett takes readers on a cook’s tour with his latest work, Together: The Rituals, Pleasures, and Politics of Cooperation, under the guise of at least theoretically attaining a working understanding of “balance between cooperation and competition”. Getting past his irritating turgid verbosity, the reader is left realizing Sennett’s intention to “practice cooperation on the page” (Sennett, 2012, p. 30) was nothing more than a fashionable moot point. Efforts in the West to arrive at a workable intercultural competence continue to be plagued with severe classism, scientific and academic arrogance, and unconsciously ingrained ideas wherein talking the talk without having to walk the walk is the greater reality. Sennett succeeds in offering a

Read More
725 Words | 3 Pages

The story “A Worn Path” by Eudora Welty is about a woman named Phoenix Jackson on a long journey into town, but it 's much more than a regular walk into town. There are obstacles and struggle, but she never stops and lets no one get in the way. That journey represent the way she has lived her life. The way she fought for where she is today. Phoenix Jackson is the major in this story, and she is also the protagonist.

Read More
1867 Words | 8 Pages

Eckhart Tolle calls it our form-identity, an identity based on external forms. A re-cognition needs to happen in our perception that we are neither our positions nor our possessions. The best way to re-cognize who we are is, by remembering who we are, something we forget to do when we get busy with life.

Read More
761 Words | 4 Pages

In this essay, I will argue that identity theory, which is the view that the mind is the brain based on a posteriori, is not true using the multiple reliability argument (77). A posteriori refers to the philosophical theory that truth is based on having an experience (85). In this paragraph I will argue against identity theory using multiple reliability. According to identity theory, each mental type must be identical to each brain type (77).

Read More
974 Words | 4 Pages

Subjective identity is the idea that an individual can imagine an entire and static identity in view of individual perception and experience alone. Horace Walpole 's The Castle of Otranto convolutes the probability or unwavering quality of a subjective identity. Walpole 's utilization of the third individual exhibits the intricacy of identity, since it shows that one individual can 't watch and experience synchronized occasions. The third individual lights up a split between what the characters know and what is actually occurring. As a full scope of recognitions interaction, the reader can witness various occasions, responses, and mistaken assumptions.

Read More
1104 Words | 5 Pages

In this essay I will be comparing the identity theory to the behaviorist’s theory. Both theories are similar in the sense that they are of the monists (physicalism) view but they do vary in many other ways that I will point out in the duration of my essay. I do believe that the behaviorist theory is the better argument for reasons I will outline in this essay. The identity theory The identity theory refers to the understanding that the mind and the brain are identical.

Read More
1801 Words | 8 Pages

For many years, the issue of self-identity has been a problem that philosophers and scholars have been to explain using different theories. The question on self –identity tries to explain the concept of how a person today is different from the one in the years to come. In philosophy, the theory of personal identity tries to solve the questions who we are, our existence, and life after death. To understand the concept of self-identity, it is important to analyze a person over a period under given conditions. Despite the numerous theories on personal identity, the paper narrows down the study to the personal theories of John Locke and Rene Descartes, and their points of view on personal identity.

Read More

More about Where Am I Daniel Dennett Analysis

Related Topics

Open Document