Who am I...? Really?

[mafyapenguin94]

Alright so this was a topic that came up in my Philosophy class the other day. We were talking about the soul, human consciousness, and essentially, what makes a person a person. And so, during discussion, my professor posed a hypothetical thought experiment. Suppose you were to suddenly and inexplicably lose all of your memories. Is the person that you are now the same as the person that you were two minutes before? Are you still you ,or, have you now become somebody completely different?

I'll try to keep it as short as possible because this is already starting to get a bit long, but, I feel that the essential component that makes a person whom he is would be your memories, and how they shaped your life and actions thus far. While you may be the same person in physical appearance, the change in thought, function, and action of a person completely, in my opinion, changes who you actually are.

So, I would like to hear your thoughts, and possibly change my perspective on this

 

[HE Starwind]

I don't know if I would try to change your perspective, it seems most likely that ones personality is formed upon memories and experience. My only question is if something like this would rid people of some disorders, for example; OCD or BPD.

 

[Valate_v1legacy]

You are your memories. If you have a brilliant idea, life changing experience, or something similar withtin those two minutes, yes you will be a different person. All thoughts and decisions made by humans are based on memories. From memories of ideas to memories of events.

 

[Skeleon]

I agree with you, in my opinion you'd be a different person because your memories and experiences shape your behaviour. Basically, the old person is dead and a completely new person arises. How do we define ourselves? Through our lives, right? So if I wiped all previous events of my life clean, everything that defines me as me would be gone.

 

[PaulyWalnuts]

I think I would be a totally different person if I hadn't pissed myself in the 3rd grade. Oh the trauma!

 

[PuppetMaster]

interesting idea. The way I look at it is "what happens when drunk as balls?" personally I believe that the true nature of people is revealed when intoxicated so I imagine a similar effect would take place if all memories were lost. To break it down, if you're the kind of person who gets very social when drinking, I'd suspect you to be open and friendly when you have no alterior "public" persona

 

[Baggie]

From what I know of people loosing all prior memories, they still are the same person, but only know the basic functions, stuff like muscle memory and such. You don't have the memories but you are still shaped by what has happened before.

It all depends on what 'all your memories' is defined as, but that's the basic explanation.

 

[The_Healer]

I think that you would be a completely different person BUT would develop into someone similar to what you were before. At the moment you lost your memories though, you'd be fucking scared.

 

[Twilight_guy]

No. Childhood contributes greatly to how a person behaves. Losing that childhood gives you a different personality and makes you a different person. Certain factors remain the same (physical characteristics) and may affect to be similar to your old self, but you will never be the same.

 

[Adam]

I don't think you would be the person who you were. A person, in terms of philosophy, is defined by their memories and experiences. If those were to be suddenly taken away then you are left with an empty husk of who you were, You would still be human, just not the person you were.

 

[ottenni]

Your you with no memories.

 

[mafyapenguin94]

Your you with no memories.

So then can you even be considered you? If you used to laugh at squirrels before, but now you see them for the "first time" and you shit your pants, does that make you a different person? Philosophically speaking, not physically

 

[Valate_v1legacy]

Your you with no memories.

So then can you even be considered you? If you used to laugh at squirrels before, but now you see them for the "first time" and you shit your pants, does that make you a different person? Philosophically speaking, not physically

I saw a squirrel run up a tree today bill.
Yeah so what earl?
Well Bill. I shit myself. I was Terrified.
But earl its a squirrel. They're like natures Twitchy kid hopped up on sugar.
Bill....They scare me. Every time i think of squirrels i die a little on the inside.

And so on and so forth lol.

How did you know how to speak english if your memory of how to speak english was erased?

 

[mafyapenguin94]

Your you with no memories.

So then can you even be considered you? If you used to laugh at squirrels before, but now you see them for the "first time" and you shit your pants, does that make you a different person? Philosophically speaking, not physically

I saw a squirrel run up a tree today bill.
Yeah so what earl?
Well Bill. I shit myself. I was Terrified.
But earl its a squirrel. They're like natures Twitchy kid hopped up on sugar.
Bill....They scare me. Every time i think of squirrels i die a little on the inside.

And so on and so forth lol.

How did you know how to speak english if your memory of how to speak english was erased?

Basics. Everyone knows how to speak english how to breath and how to walk. Why because its natural. If you look at babies they Try to walk all the time but can't.

This is actually untrue, as nice as it would seem. Babies learn to talk from hearing adults converse with each other and the baby. They emulate the language(s) which are being spoken in front of them. This goes the same from walking. Babies attempt to emulate what they see other, larger beings doing. There are social experiments that have been done on feral children which show that there are no basic instincts like walking, talking, eating, or even shivering from the cold. They are all learned from imitation

 

[Valate_v1legacy]

Your you with no memories.

So then can you even be considered you? If you used to laugh at squirrels before, but now you see them for the "first time" and you shit your pants, does that make you a different person? Philosophically speaking, not physically

I saw a squirrel run up a tree today bill.
Yeah so what earl?
Well Bill. I shit myself. I was Terrified.
But earl its a squirrel. They're like natures Twitchy kid hopped up on sugar.
Bill....They scare me. Every time i think of squirrels i die a little on the inside.

And so on and so forth lol.

How did you know how to speak english if your memory of how to speak english was erased?

Basics. Everyone knows how to speak english how to breath and how to walk. Why because its natural. If you look at babies they Try to walk all the time but can't.

Speaking english is natural? Say that to someone who doesnt know english. A language is a LEARNED thing.

 

[PaulyWalnuts]

Your you with no memories.

So then can you even be considered you? If you used to laugh at squirrels before, but now you see them for the "first time" and you shit your pants, does that make you a different person? Philosophically speaking, not physically

I saw a squirrel run up a tree today bill.
Yeah so what earl?
Well Bill. I shit myself. I was Terrified.
But earl its a squirrel. They're like natures Twitchy kid hopped up on sugar.
Bill....They scare me. Every time i think of squirrels i die a little on the inside.

And so on and so forth lol.

How did you know how to speak english if your memory of how to speak english was erased?

Basics. Everyone knows how to speak english how to breath and how to walk. Why because its natural. If you look at babies they Try to walk all the time but can't.

You have to see the glaring error in that statement...lol. Not everyone knows how to speak English right out of the womb. Ask any of the roughly 8 billion people of the world.

 

[HE Starwind]

Your you with no memories.

So then can you even be considered you? If you used to laugh at squirrels before, but now you see them for the "first time" and you shit your pants, does that make you a different person? Philosophically speaking, not physically

I saw a squirrel run up a tree today bill.
Yeah so what earl?
Well Bill. I shit myself. I was Terrified.
But earl its a squirrel. They're like natures Twitchy kid hopped up on sugar.
Bill....They scare me. Every time i think of squirrels i die a little on the inside.

And so on and so forth lol.

How did you know how to speak english if your memory of how to speak english was erased?

Basics. Everyone knows how to speak english how to breath and how to walk. Why because its natural. If you look at babies they Try to walk all the time but can't.

Speaking english is natural? Say that to someone who doesnt know english. A language is a LEARNED thing.

Ahhhh, you beat me to it. Chinese people who lost their memories can't speak English.

But then again, this all depends on how people have lost their memories...

For example, if they're entire brain has been restarted then they would have a total inability to speak, but if it's just their memories, like if they had amnesia then they would still retain their natural language, seen as though memories and your language are stored in seperate parts of the brain.

I think I'm correct in saying that anyway.

 

[Booze Zombie]

The brain and body that made you be you will still be there, but the experience, relationships and all that other stuff you develop will be gone.

 

[Incredible Bullshitting Man]

Hmmm, from the point of view of the people who know you, I think you would be the you they know, at least for awhile. Outsiders would still have their memories of you (the way you were), and they would probably hold onto them as long as your new behaviour fits into the form. I would even say that the people around you, the ones who would have to teach to live again, will, unconsciously or not, (re)shape you according to the old mold they have. If this is true, then you probably would still be you, but not completely. There may be some changes, but in the end people would still see you as they did before the sudden attack of amnesia.

Now, is the person you see yourself to be any more significant or real than the person others see? I don´t think it is, since we are constantly under observation and evaluation. There will always be two sides of you, unless you live alone in a hut in a middle of nowhere.

 

[PaulyWalnuts]

Im sure if someone Lost EVERYTHING and i mean everything even there ability to speak then it would be different but look at amnesia victims. They speak their language.

Lol we're just messing with ya. Yes there is a condition called retrograde amnesia (as apposed to anterograde amnesia) where sufferers do not remember events prior to their injury. It affects the pathway between the hippocampus and the temporal lobe. Language abilities are actually stored in various parts of the brain with specific functions (like grammar and vocabulary). So losing ones memories by cutting off their pathway would not destroy language abilities.