Philosophy reading questions and video summary

1. Watch the video:

2. Write a 150-word summary of the video highlighting the main points.

3. Complete the reading: John Perry, “A Dialogue Concerning Personal Identity and Immortality”

4. Answer the reading questions. I’ve included both a doc and pdf version for your convenience.

PHIL 101 Reading Questions: Perry, “A Dialogue on Personal Identity and Immortality”

1. What position on immortality does Miller take? How about Weirob?
2. What challenge does Weirob give Miller?
3. Weirob distinguishes between two uses of the term ‘identity’ or ‘sameness’: (i) to be exactly similar (example: those two are wearing the same dress!) and (ii) to be one and the same thing (example: Keith Hess is identical to (one and the same person as) the professor of PHIL 101)). What notion of identity does Weirob have in mind when asking whether or not she will survive her death (that is, whether the person now that is sick in bed will be identical to the person who survives her death)?
4. What is Miller’s view about what we are fundamentally? Describe one of the reasons Weirob gives for rejecting this view?
5. On the second night, Miller gives a line of reasoning for thinking that personal identity does not consist in sameness of material body. What is that line of reasoning?
6. Miller describes Locke’s view of personal identity. Describe that view. What does personal identity consist in, for Locke?
7. On the third night, what sort of case does Cohen give in an attempt to argue against Weirob’s view that we are identical to a living body?