What makes you, you · Quiz question 25/35
Dementia and Personal Identity
After a long illness, Grandma no longer recognizes family and her personality has changed. Is she still the person she was? Dementia, personal identity, and advance directives.
After a long illness, Grandma no longer recognizes her family, and the way she talks and acts has changed a lot.
In some sense, she's no longer the person she used to be.
The idea that you're the same person only as far as memory reaches starts with John Locke. Dementia is where this idea turns into a sharp real-world ethical problem. In Life's Dominion (1993), legal philosopher Ronald Dworkin argued that the pre-dementia person's "critical interests" and advance directives can take priority over current experiential interests. In 1995 bioethicist Rebecca Dresser pushed back, arguing we must respect the interests of the patient as they are now.
This question has a different flavor: it says "in some sense." If you agreed, you think continuity of memory and personality is central to who someone is. In Parfit's terms, as psychological connections weaken, so does the degree to which she is "the same person."
If you disagreed, you think she's still the same person — in body, in life, and in her relationships. This distinction matters in real decisions. If someone wrote while healthy "no life-prolonging treatment if I get dementia," but now seems comfortable and content, whose wishes win? Dworkin favored the author of the whole life; Dresser favored the person here and now. For an animalist, there's no doubt it's the same person — the only question is whether her past wishes or present interests come first.
A person is a link of memory and personality. As the links weaken, so does the former person.
Key names: John Locke, Derek ParfitAs long as the same life continues, it's the same person. What changed is her condition, not who she is.
Key names: Eric Olson, Aristotle (forerunner)Identity is also held up by the story family and community share. She remains in those relationships even when memory fades.
Key names: Hilde Lindemann, Bernard Williams (on character)