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If your body changes are you still you?


Question asked by: mrquestion

Asked on: 12 Jan 2010

Well this is an interesting question relating to personal identity isn't it.

Most people would say that yes if the body changes you are still you, for instance if you have surgery or reconstructive facial surgery then you are still you, aren't you.

What would be interesting is if in the future the brain gets transplanted from one body to another (ignoring the ethical issues for now since this is a thought experiment) and if you have a completely different body then this would raise interesting questions and dilemmas about whether it was still you or not.

I think most people would probably still say it was you, but with a different body that took some getting used to, as the memories and actions etc are still you and we tend to think of brain continuity as what makes a person the same from time to time more so than bodily continuity.

By: knowitall
Replied at: 12 Jan 2010
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