The Physical, the Subjective, and the Social in the Debate on Personal Identity: A Critical and Historical Overview of Neo-Lockean Accounts

Abstract

There are, at least, three fundamentaldimensions in what we all are: a physical,a mental and a social dimension. In thispaper I will focus in how, in the historyof the debate about personal identity, different neo-Lockean theories have triedto account for these dimensions. Themain goal will be to show that the onlyneo-Lockean theory that can account forthese dimensions is what I call the NewNarrative Approach, that establishes adistinction between three entities thatwe are: human beings, selves, and persons.