Personal Identity

A Personal Identity is a persistent identity (unique and persistent personal characteristics) for an individual.

• AKA: Individual Identity, Self Identity.
• Context:
  • It can maintain Temporal Personal Identity through temporal persistence.
  • It can integrate Experiential Personal Identity through life narratives.
  • It can preserve Core Personal Identity despite identity changes.
  • It can sustain Psychological Personal Identity across time periods.
  • It can construct Future Personal Identity through personal aspirations.
  • It can develop Adaptive Personal Identity through flexible processes.
  • It can rebuild Stable Personal Identity after disruption events.
  • It can shape Decision Personal Identity through value systems.
  • ...
  • It can range from being a Stable Personal Identity to being a Dynamic Personal Identity, depending on its temporal pattern.
  • It can range from being a Past Personal Identity to being a Future Personal Identity, depending on its temporal focus.
  • It can range from being a Core Personal Identity to being a Peripheral Personal Identity, depending on its identity centrality.
  • It can range from being a Conscious Personal Identity to being an Unconscious Personal Identity, depending on its awareness level.
  • It can range from being a Flexible Personal Identity to being a Rigid Personal Identity, depending on its adaptation capacity.
  • It can range from being an Individual Personal Identity to being a Cultural Personal Identity, depending on its societal integration.
  • ...
  • It can integrate Self Concept with Personal Identity Continuity through temporal persistence.
  • It can maintain Core Personal Identity despite belief changes and value evolution.
  • It can preserve Individual Personal Identity through life events and cultural influences.
  • It can balance Stable Personal Identity with Developmental Personal Identity across time periods.
  • It can express Cultural Personal Identity through societal interactions.
  • It can influence Self Perception through identity beliefs.
  • It can guide Individual Personal Identity through personal principles.
  • It can mediate Social Personal Identity through identity expressions.
  • ...
• Examples:
  • Psychological Personal Identitys (for mental continuity), such as:
    • Character Personal Identitys like expressing core traits.
    • Emotional Personal Identitys like processing feeling states.
    • Cognitive Personal Identitys like maintaining thought patterns.
  • Experiential Personal Identitys (for life integration), such as:
    • Narrative Personal Identitys like constructing life storys.
    • Memory Personal Identitys like maintaining personal history.
    • Cultural Personal Identitys like engaging social contexts.
  • Physical Personal Identitys (for bodily continuity), such as:
    • Biological Personal Identitys like tracking body changes.
    • Appearance Personal Identitys like recognizing physical traits.
    • Health Personal Identitys like maintaining body states.
  • Temporal Personal Identitys (for time persistence), such as:
    • Past Personal Identitys like integrating previous experiences.
    • Present Personal Identitys like maintaining current states.
    • Future Personal Identitys like developing possible selfs.
  • Social Personal Identitys (for relationship contexts), such as:
    • Family Personal Identitys like maintaining kinship bonds.
    • Professional Personal Identitys like developing work roles.
    • Community Personal Identitys like engaging social groups.
  • ...
• Counter-Examples:
  • Social Identity, which emerges from group membership rather than individual continuity.
  • Collective Identity, which forms through shared characteristics rather than personal persistence.
  • Role Identity, which changes with social positions rather than maintaining core continuity.
  • Legal Identity, which relies on external verification rather than internal coherence.
  • Temporary Identity, which exists for limited durations rather than maintaining temporal persistence.
• See: Person, Self Concept, Individual, Personal Development, Identity Formation, Psychological Continuity, Self Understanding, Personal Growth, Cultural Integration, Identity Reconstruction, Future Self, Identity Resilience.

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References

2024-12-29

• Perplexity.ai
  • Question: What is Personal Identity? Please explain its core components, key characteristics, and dimensions of expression. Include information about how personal identity operates across multiple dimensions while maintaining temporal continuity.
  • Answer: Personal Identity encompasses the fundamental characteristics, experiences, and traits that define an individual's sense of self and persist over time.
    • Core Components:
      • Psychological Foundation:
        • The psychological basis relies on consciousness and continuous mental states that persist through time.
        • This psychological continuity enables individuals to maintain a coherent sense of self despite ongoing changes and experiences.
      • Physical Dimension:
        • Bodily continuity plays a significant role in personal identity.
        • Provides the physical foundation through which we experience and interact with the world.
      • Experiential Integration:
        • Personal identity develops through the integration of life experiences, memories, and personal history.
        • These accumulated experiences shape our self-narrative and contribute to our unique individual characteristics.
    • Key Characteristics:
      • Temporal Persistence:
        • Maintains continuity across time while allowing for growth and change.
        • Enables individuals to recognize themselves as the same person despite ongoing development and transformation.
      • Individual Agency:
        • People actively shape their personal identity by selecting and emphasizing different aspects of their experience and characteristics.
        • This selective process allows individuals to construct a unique self-definition that reflects their values and priorities.
    • Dimensions of Expression:
      • Self-Concept Integration:
        • Personality traits and behavioral patterns.
        • Values and belief systems.
        • Physical attributes and capabilities.
        • Aspirations and life goals.
      • Identity Dynamics:
        • Can be stable or changing over time.
        • Can be central or peripheral to self-concept.
        • Can be consciously recognized or unconsciously held.
    • Identity Distinctions:
      • Personal Identity differs from Social Identity, Collective Identity, and role-based identities.
      • While these other forms influence Personal Identity, they are distinct constructs that relate to group membership, shared characteristics, and social positions rather than individual uniqueness.
  • Citations:

[1] https://study.com/academy/lesson/what-is-personal-identity-definition-philosophy-development.html
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_identity_(philosophy)
[3] https://helpfulprofessor.com/personal-identity-examples/
[4] https://www.reddit.com/r/askphilosophy/comments/14y7b7/theories_of_personal_identity/
[5] https://destinysodyssey.com/personal-development/self-development-2/self-concepts-self-constructs/self-identity/
[6] https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/identity-personal/
[7] https://destinysodyssey.com/personal-development/self-discovery/personal-identity/
[8] https://iep.utm.edu/person-i/
[9] https://www.facinghistory.org/resource-library/exploring-concept-identity

2024

• (Wikipedia, 2024) ⇒ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_identity Retrieved:2024-11-27.
  • Personal identity is the unique numerical identity of a person over time. Discussions regarding personal identity typically aim to determine the necessary and sufficient conditions under which a person at one time and a person at another time can be said to be the person, persisting through time. In philosophy, the problem of personal identity is concerned with how one is able to identify a single person over a time interval, dealing with such questions as, "What makes it true that a person at one time is the same thing as a person at another time?" or "What kinds of things are we persons?" In contemporary metaphysics, the matter of personal identity is referred to as the diachronic problem of personal identity. The synchronic problem concerns the question of what features and traits characterize a person at a given time. Analytic philosophy and continental philosophy both inquire about the nature of identity. Continental philosophy deals with conceptually maintaining identity when confronted by different philosophic propositions, postulates, and presuppositions about the world and its nature.

2019

• (Wikipedia, 2019) ⇒ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_identity Retrieved:2019-11-15.
  • In philosophy, the matter of personal identity deals with such questions as, "What makes it true that a person at one time is the same thing as a person at another time?" or "What kinds of things are we persons?" Generally, personal identity is the unique numerical identity of a person in the course of time. That is, the necessary and sufficient conditions under which a person at one time and a person at another time can be said to be the person, persisting through time. In contemporary metaphysics, the matter of personal identity is referred to as the diachronic problem of personal identity. The synchronic problem concerns the question of what features and traits characterize a person at a given time. In continental philosophy and in analytic philosophy, enquiry to the nature of Identity is common. Continental philosophy deals with conceptually maintaining identity when confronted by different philosophic propositions, postulates, and presuppositions about the world and its nature.

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