PHIL-230 Final Exam UPDATED
QUESTIONS AND CORRECT ANSWERS
Q3: Thomas Reid says that one's best evidence for believing that one is the same person now as a
person who existed in the past is - CORRECT ANSWER one's belief that one has an
immaterial soul.
Q3: If Thomas Reid's account of personal identity across time is correct, then person A at time1 is the
same person as person B at a later time10 only if B has a memory of A's first-person conscious
experience. - CORRECT ANSWER false
Q3: John Locke's theory of personal identity across time implies, and therefore requires, that you are a
conscious, immaterial soul. - CORRECT ANSWER false
Q3: John Locke claimed that substance identity across time consists in a relation of first-person
consciousness via memory across time. - CORRECT ANSWER false
Q3: Thomas Reid says that personal identity across time consists in - CORRECT ANSWER
the continuous, uninterrupted existence of the indivisible self across time.
Q3: Whose theory best fits with our common-sense belief that a clock maintains its identity across
time despite changes in its substance? - CORRECT ANSWER Thomas Reid
Q3: John Locke says that human identity across time consists in - CORRECT ANSWER a
relation of 1st person consciousness via memory across time.
Q3: John Locke defines "person" as he does, because he considers - CORRECT ANSWER the
term "person" to be a forensic term having to do with the justice of praise/blame or
reward/punishment.
Q3: According to Thomas Reid, the only kind of identity is the kind defined by John Locke as -
CORRECT ANSWER substance identity
, Q3: John Locke considers the following objection to his theory of personal identity across time: "But
isn't a man drunk and sober the same person? Why else is he punished for what he does when drunk,
even if he is never afterwards conscious of it? He is just as much a single person as a man who walks
in his sleep and is answerable, while awake, for any harm he did in his sleep."
Locke responds to the objection embedded in the quotation above, by arguing that - CORRECT
ANSWER The courts can justly punish a man who cannot remember what he did while drunk,
because his bad actions can be proved against the man, whereas his lack of consciousness of his bad
actions cannot be proved for the man.
Q3: John Locke says that the identity of a substance across time consists in - CORRECT ANSWER
the continuous, uninterrupted existence of that substance across time.
Q3: Which of the following does John Locke say confirms his theory of personal identity across time?
- CORRECT ANSWER Legal courts don't punish a sane man for an insane man's crime (even
when they are the same man), because the sane man's consciousness is disconnected from the insane
man's consciousness.
Q4: Objecting to John Locke's theory of personal identity across time, Thomas Reid claimed that -
CORRECT ANSWER Locke confused the evidence we have for our personal identity across
time with what constitutes our personal identity across time.
Q4: In John Perry's A Dialogue on Personal Identity and Immortality, Gretchen Weirob claims that a
proponent of the immaterial soul view of personal identity has no more reason to believe hypothesis
H1 than to believe H2 or H3.
H1: a single soul has been associated with this body I call "mine" since birth.
H2: a single soul was associated with this body I call "mine" until 5 years ago, and then another soul,
introspectively indistinguishable from the first, has been associated with this body I call "mine" ever
since.
H3: every 5 years a new, introspectively indistinguishable soul takes over this body I call "mine".
In class we evaluated Weirob's claim as follows: - CORRECT ANSWER Weirob is incorrect:
H1 is the simplest hypothesis among its rivals; thus, it is the most reasonable explanation among its
rivals.
QUESTIONS AND CORRECT ANSWERS
Q3: Thomas Reid says that one's best evidence for believing that one is the same person now as a
person who existed in the past is - CORRECT ANSWER one's belief that one has an
immaterial soul.
Q3: If Thomas Reid's account of personal identity across time is correct, then person A at time1 is the
same person as person B at a later time10 only if B has a memory of A's first-person conscious
experience. - CORRECT ANSWER false
Q3: John Locke's theory of personal identity across time implies, and therefore requires, that you are a
conscious, immaterial soul. - CORRECT ANSWER false
Q3: John Locke claimed that substance identity across time consists in a relation of first-person
consciousness via memory across time. - CORRECT ANSWER false
Q3: Thomas Reid says that personal identity across time consists in - CORRECT ANSWER
the continuous, uninterrupted existence of the indivisible self across time.
Q3: Whose theory best fits with our common-sense belief that a clock maintains its identity across
time despite changes in its substance? - CORRECT ANSWER Thomas Reid
Q3: John Locke says that human identity across time consists in - CORRECT ANSWER a
relation of 1st person consciousness via memory across time.
Q3: John Locke defines "person" as he does, because he considers - CORRECT ANSWER the
term "person" to be a forensic term having to do with the justice of praise/blame or
reward/punishment.
Q3: According to Thomas Reid, the only kind of identity is the kind defined by John Locke as -
CORRECT ANSWER substance identity
, Q3: John Locke considers the following objection to his theory of personal identity across time: "But
isn't a man drunk and sober the same person? Why else is he punished for what he does when drunk,
even if he is never afterwards conscious of it? He is just as much a single person as a man who walks
in his sleep and is answerable, while awake, for any harm he did in his sleep."
Locke responds to the objection embedded in the quotation above, by arguing that - CORRECT
ANSWER The courts can justly punish a man who cannot remember what he did while drunk,
because his bad actions can be proved against the man, whereas his lack of consciousness of his bad
actions cannot be proved for the man.
Q3: John Locke says that the identity of a substance across time consists in - CORRECT ANSWER
the continuous, uninterrupted existence of that substance across time.
Q3: Which of the following does John Locke say confirms his theory of personal identity across time?
- CORRECT ANSWER Legal courts don't punish a sane man for an insane man's crime (even
when they are the same man), because the sane man's consciousness is disconnected from the insane
man's consciousness.
Q4: Objecting to John Locke's theory of personal identity across time, Thomas Reid claimed that -
CORRECT ANSWER Locke confused the evidence we have for our personal identity across
time with what constitutes our personal identity across time.
Q4: In John Perry's A Dialogue on Personal Identity and Immortality, Gretchen Weirob claims that a
proponent of the immaterial soul view of personal identity has no more reason to believe hypothesis
H1 than to believe H2 or H3.
H1: a single soul has been associated with this body I call "mine" since birth.
H2: a single soul was associated with this body I call "mine" until 5 years ago, and then another soul,
introspectively indistinguishable from the first, has been associated with this body I call "mine" ever
since.
H3: every 5 years a new, introspectively indistinguishable soul takes over this body I call "mine".
In class we evaluated Weirob's claim as follows: - CORRECT ANSWER Weirob is incorrect:
H1 is the simplest hypothesis among its rivals; thus, it is the most reasonable explanation among its
rivals.
