[Development of the concept of identity in psychiatry and philosophy]

Abstract

The present paper discusses possible solutions to the problem of personal identity and intends to demonstrate criteria enabling us to view a person as the same at different time points in his life. Of special interest are the so-called memory criterion and the criterion of physical identity/continuity: a person remains the same if he is able to remember his past "states" or if he continues to have his former body (brain). The philosophical discussion of the last decades made clear that all attempts to reduce personal identity to memory or physical continuity are contradictory. In this paper we propose regarding personal identity as a normative phenomenon that evades a purely descriptive or neurobiological approach.