The Prince and the Cobbler

The Prince and the Cobbler
John Locke

John Locke speaks of personal identity and the survival of death. He says that an animal is a living organized body. That man is nothing else but and animal of such certain form. He believes that a person is defined as a thinking intelligent being. That has reasons and reflection and can consider itself as itself, the same thinking thing, in different times. Locke says that people know why they do things. And that they remember why they did things and this creates personal identity. He says that when we see, hear, smell, taste, or fell, we know what we do and thus it is always as to our present sensations and perceptions, and by this everyone is to himself that which he calls self. He says that consciousness is always accompanied by thinking. And thinking distinguishes us from other thinking things. And this consists of our personal identity. Locke says that for a man to be the same man overtime it is necessary that man's body persist over that time. And thus our conception of a person involves perception and consciousness. Locke believes that one cannot be the same person without some connection between current consciousness and past consciousness. He says that one same consciousness at different constitutes personal identity. He believes that two different bodies might posses the same consciousness. He explains that the soul of a prince carrying its consciousness of the prince's past life can enter the body of a cobbler. He explains that everyone would see the same person with the prince, accountable only for the prince's actions. But it is not the same man. He would be the same cobbler to everyone expect to himself. He says that the same person and the same man make up one same thing. He explains that it is possible for the same man to make at different times different persons. Man can have distinct consciousness at different times. He gives an explanation of what a sober man would do and what he would do if here a mad man. It would still be the same man, but different persons.

Discussion question

Is it possible for a man's consciousness enter another man's body?