Derek Parfait's Personal Identity: A Conceptual Analysis

A scientist with issues: a thought experiment on existence.

To imagine waking up to a mad scientist prepping another human body for a brain transplant in which you are the supplier of a body, and, most importantly, the brain. The idea has been said out loud, by the mad scientist with Einstein styled hair, that your brain shall be split in half. The left stays within your body, and the right is implanted in a brainless vessel. Having gone ahead and agreed with Parfaits dismissal of the “I do not survive” argument and accepting “How could a double success be a failure?” as a sound statement,(pg.354) the experiment continues! During your endeavors, the thought flashes through your mind, “Where will I continue to exist?” I believe you don’t. If it were to be me, and they had me strapped down to the metal operation table, in the unlikely event that I would stop screaming

Though as stated earlier, how can two successful operations result in a “failure” of survival? He contradicts this with saying “Identity is a one to one relation.” (Pg. 357) However, if my brain is “I” and I am my brain, how can I not be me? This reminds me of a quiche I made for the International Food Fair at UTEP. I had preheated 12 crust, and began on one giant serving of batter. Many, many ingredients and fierce whisking later, the batter was finished. I decorated the bottom of the finished crusts with 2 different layers. Six were provolone cheese, artichokes, and sundried tomatoes scattered at the bottom, the other filled with spinach and Guerre cheese. After, decorating the piecrust with the chosen ingredients, I filled them with the batter. Half went to the artichoke quiche, the other half to the spinach. Though the two were completely different recipes, different quiches, different flavors, the batter never ceased to be the same