Length: 1500 words
Topic: Consider the following hypothetical case developed by Daniel Dennett: (case is located within file attached below).
As you can see, Dennett encounters a very strange phenomenon, one in which it’s not quite clear where he is, or even what he is. For the most part, we took for granted that we exist in a certain place and in a certain way, whether we think of ourselves as our bodies, a brain, a soul, or perhaps some stream of consciousness or collection of memories.
Given what happens to Dennett in this story, what do you think Dennett actually is? And where exactly does he exist?
Note: in reading through Dennett’s article, you may find these study questions useful:
- What is Dennett’s mission in the story?
- What operation does he go through?
- What does the switch do?
- What does Dennett think when he looks at his brain?
- What philosophical problem does arise from this thought?
- What do the names “Dennett,” “Yorick,” “Hamlet,” (and later) “Fortinbras,” and “Hubert” refer to?
- What is suspicious about the claim that “Where Hamlet goes, there goes Dennett”?
- What is suspicious about the claim that “Where Yorick goes, there goes Dennett”?
- What is suspicious about the claim that “Dennett is wherever he thinks he is”?
- How does the idea of “point of view” contribute to Dennett’s problem?
- What happened to Dennett during his mission?
- What philosophical “revelation” did occur to him as a result of it?
- What practical problem does he encounter while he has his revelation?
- What is the relationship between Yorick and Fortinbras?
- Between Yorick and Hubert?
- Between Hubert and Fortinbras?
- What is the role of the new switch?
- How does the story end?
Explain and defend your answers to these questions with reference to the theories of personal identity and the lecture on personal identity.
