Chapter 14 Quiz: Who Am I?

Part I — Multiple Choice (2 points each)

1. The personal identity question asks:

a) What kind of person are you morally?
b) What makes you the same person over time?
c) What is the meaning of your particular life?
d) How do others perceive your character?

2. Locke's theory of personal identity holds that what makes you the same person over time is:

a) Your body remaining the same
b) Your soul persisting unchanged
c) Continuity of consciousness and memory
d) Your social identity remaining stable

3. In Parfit's fission case, a brain is split and each half is implanted in a separate body. Parfit's main philosophical point is:

a) Such a procedure would be murder
b) Only one of the resulting persons could be the original
c) The indeterminacy of the case reveals that personal identity is not as deep a concept as we assume
d) Psychological continuity is impossible to maintain through such a procedure

4. Parfit's conclusion that "personal identity is not what matters" means:

a) Nothing about our futures matters
b) What matters is not whether a determinate fact exists about personal identity but whether there is psychological continuity and connectedness
c) We should be completely indifferent to whether we survive
d) Personal identity is fully determined by bodily continuity

5. The narrative identity approach holds that personal identity is:

a) The persistence of memory chains
b) The unity of a life story — being the protagonist of an ongoing narrative
c) The consistency of biological matter in your body
d) Defined by your social roles

6. Ricoeur's distinction between idem and ipse identity distinguishes between:

a) Real self and social self
b) Numerical sameness (persisting substance) and selfhood (the identity of someone who keeps commitments and maintains character)
c) Past self and future self
d) Private identity and public identity

7. Sartre's claim that "you are what you do" implies:

a) Actions are more important than intentions
b) There is no fixed essence underneath choices — identity is constructed through action
c) Moral worth is determined by achievements
d) People cannot change who they are

8. The Buddhist doctrine of anatta (no-self) claims:

a) The self does not exist and nothing matters
b) Self-interest is immoral
c) What we call the "self" is a constantly changing process rather than a fixed, unified substance
d) Personal identity is grounded in memory

9. Simone de Beauvoir's claim "One is not born, but rather becomes, woman" means:

a) Biological sex determines gender
b) Gender identity is entirely chosen
c) "Woman" as a social category with specific content is constructed through socialization, not natural
d) Women are fundamentally different from men

10. Charles Taylor's concept of authenticity holds that genuine authenticity:

a) Requires escaping all social contexts and inherited traditions
b) Is the expression of a purely private inner self
c) Involves engaged, reflective navigation of inherited social contexts rather than wholesale rejection or acceptance
d) Is impossible given the social construction of identity

Part II — True/False (1 point each)

11. Parfit's teleporter case concludes that the Mars replica is definitely you.

12. Narrative identity implies that you are the author of your own life story and can revise it within the constraints of what actually happened.

13. The existentialist view implies that character is fixed and determines behavior.

14. Hume's "bundle theory" of the self arrived at a conclusion similar to the Buddhist no-self doctrine.

15. Social identities are always chosen and can be freely adopted or abandoned.

Part III — Short Answer (10 points each)

16. Explain in 3–5 sentences why personal identity matters practically — give at least two real examples of contexts where the question is not merely theoretical.

17. What is Parfit's main argument from the fission case? In 4–6 sentences, describe the case and explain why the indeterminacy it reveals is philosophically significant.

18. A student says: "The narrative identity theory is just a fancy way of saying that identity is your autobiography — it's obvious." In 4–6 sentences, explain what is NOT obvious about the narrative identity account and why it is philosophically interesting beyond just saying "identity is your story."

Part IV — Essay (25 points)

Choose ONE of the following prompts. Write 400–600 words.

Option A: Derek Parfit concluded that once you genuinely understand the indeterminacy of personal identity, you should feel "less closed in" and less preoccupied with the sharp distinction between your interests and others'. Do you find this argument convincing? Could the indeterminacy of personal identity support this liberating conclusion, or might it support very different conclusions (e.g., nihilism, or increased self-interest)? Defend your position.

Option B: Consider the following claim: "The narrative self theory is the most practically useful account of personal identity because it correctly identifies that we experience our lives as stories and that we have authorship over those stories." Agree or disagree, engaging with at least one alternative theory.

Option C: How should the concept of social identity — the fact that many aspects of who we are were assigned to us rather than chosen — affect how we think about authenticity and personal responsibility? Draw on at least two of the frameworks from this chapter.

Answer Key (Instructor)

1-b, 2-c, 3-c, 4-b, 5-b, 6-b, 7-b, 8-c, 9-c, 10-c
11-False, 12-True, 13-False, 14-True, 15-False