Mind Identity Problem
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What is the definition of identity? Better yet, what is the definition of the mind and a person? There are so many definitions for identity but the definition according to www.onelook.com is the distinct personality of an individual regarded as a persisting entity. This defines identity the way I define it because, I think, personality serves as an important identifying factor for people. What makes a person a person and not like everyone else? Personality. So what is the mind?
We all have personalities that make us different but make us who we are. No one person is the same as another, not even twins are exactly alike. Identical twins can be alike in every way but they have distinctive personalities that separate them as individual people.
So would we view Harry as a person and afford him the right to live as one? I think not. You must be a human being to have an identity. Even if he were cloned from a persons DNA, he would still be a man-made creation; made up of machine parts with mechanical views, programmed by a human. A human is defined as homo sapiens (Homo, genus name + sapiens, specific epithet, from Latin, wise, intelligent), per www.meriam-webster.com. We have intelligence and character as humans, homo sapien wise and possess intelligence that is learned not programmed. Not in the same way as an animal learns because we learn through reading, research, school, etc.
Hume believed that the mind made the person and the body served as a housing unit so to speak. But does it not take a combination of things to characterize a person? If we held the same view, as Hume would Harry qualify as a person? I say no because Harry has artificial intelligence. Intelligence created and installed through computer chips by people does not qualify as a characteristic to afford you the right to be treated as and have the same rights as a person. We are not programmed with computer chips or machines but flesh and blood. We possess