Reid's Brave Office and Senile General thought experiment shows that Locke's theory of personal identity violates the principle of ______.
A) transitivity
B) excluded middle
C) parsimony
D) uncertainty
E) relativity

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Reid's Brave Officer and Senile General thought experiment challenges Locke's theory of personal identity by demonstrating a violation of the principle of transitivity. According to Locke, personal identity is based on consciousness and memory. However, Reid points out a scenario where a general remembers being a brave officer but does not remember being a young boy, even though the boy grew up to be the officer. This scenario suggests that if the boy is the same person as the officer (because the officer remembers the boy's experiences) and the officer is the same person as the general (because the general remembers the officer's experiences), then by transitivity, the boy should be the same person as the general. However, the general does not remember being the boy, leading to a contradiction in Locke's theory according to the principle of transitivity.

Reid's Brave Office and Senile General Thought Experiment Shows That