How Much Of Ourselves Can We Replace Before We Cease Being Ourselves?

[Revvy]

We can now replace limbs, hearts, skin, lungs - whatever. But everytime one of these parts is replaced, we still remain ourselves I assume. You still have the same thoughts, personality and aura about yourself. Therefore can we deduce that our body isn't really us? It's just something we've taken control of in order to survive in a physical realm...

The obvious answer would be to say that we're our brain... But is this true? I mean, surely we could disect a brain, look at how its constructed, and modify it if we had the technology? Would such actions change that voice you have inside your head; that personality you associate yourself with? Whilst not a direct comparison, look at drugs, and how they effect the mind. When intoxicated, parts of your brain are rewritten, but you still are aware that you're yourself. You still have that same undescribable presence inside of your which you know indicates your own existance.

How much can we actually change? Is there a central processing part of the brain; an inner core which dictates everything?

Are we just our unique DNA?

Do we have a soul?

If you gradually replaced every single part of your brain over time, would you adapt to each new modification and still be yourself at the end? Even though you're 100% different?

No one here probably knows the answers of course; but I'd be very interested on what people think of the question... If you can even understand what I'm on about I hope I've explained it clearly enough.

[-AnEnima-]

What makes us 'ourselves' is our personality; our habits; the tiny little quirks that make us individual. Our memories; our beliefs; the experiences we've been through. I agree with you in that it's not something physical, per se. And I dont think it's spiritual either. A very broad generalisation would most likely be the term 'consiousness'. I'm sure it essentially comes down to chemical balances and connections made within our brain.

[opersono]

Define "ourselves" and you will see that your question is meaningless.

[vazilizaitsev89]

ship of Theseus

[Aeroue]

Originally Posted by opersono

Define "ourselves" and you will see that your question is meaningless.

Depends which definition of the self you are gonna use.

e.g.

Scientific view. Self = brain, so what would have to be replaced to cease it being you? The brain.

Meaningful.

Sure from some definitions of what the self is the question could be meaningless but it isn't inherently.

[Sholom]

Keep in mind we are just particles stuck together in a way that allows us to move other particles. If you had the technology to control a machine that you could use to endlessly build and add on to yourself until the entire planet has been converted and built onto you then you would be the entire planet.

"Ourselves" are our surroundings that we can control (ie. move) with our brains. In a sense we are everything we interact with.

[opersono]

Originally Posted by Aeroue

Depends which definition of the self you are gonna use.

e.g.

Scientific view. Self = brain, so what would have to be replaced to cease it being you? The brain.

Meaningful.

Sure from some definitions of what the self is the question could be meaningless but it isn't inherently.

but no matter what definition you use, my point still remains. consider the principle of identity.

A = A

If you replace the first A with the definition that you use, and replace the second A with what you actually are, and they match, then the question is answered.

My point is that until you define "ourselves" all answers are subject to the "fallacy of ambiguity."

Also, you may consider Leibniz Law, also known as the "identity of indiscernibles."

[opersono]

Originally Posted by Sholom

Keep in mind we are just particles stuck together in a way that allows us to move other particles. If you had the technology to control a machine that you could use to endlessly build and add on to yourself until the entire planet has been converted and built onto you then you would be the entire planet.

"Ourselves" are our surroundings that we can control (ie. move) with our brains. In a sense we are everything we interact with.

but i think what the OP is asking is this...

After a change has occurred in our anatomy, what are the necessary or sufficient conditions that must be met in order to consider the new organism to be the same as the previous one.

I'm sticking to my guns here, since I think the question is simply answered by the clarification of itself.

[Sholom]

Originally Posted by opersono

but i think what the OP is asking is this...

After a change has occurred in our anatomy, what are the necessary or sufficient conditions that must be met in order to consider the new organism to be the same as the previous one.

I'm sticking to my guns here, since I think the question is simply answered by the clarification of itself.

I don't think that any changes can prevent us from being ourselves, simply because we change, both mentally and physically throughout time. According to -AnEnima- it's our personalities and our memories that makes us "us" but memories fade, disappear and change, as do our little traits.

There is no such thing as ourselves. We are what makes up the air we breath, the water we drink, the ground we walk on. We are everything in the universe. The illusion of "self" is simply what we are used to seeing from the time we're born, ie. our bodies which stay fairly consistent/usually changes slowly enough that we don't see ourselves as changing.

[opersono]

Originally Posted by Sholom

I don't think that any changes can prevent us from being ourselves, simply because we change, both mentally and physically throughout time. According to -AnEnima- it's our personalities and our memories that makes us "us" but memories fade, disappear and change, as do our little traits.

There is no such thing as ourselves. We are what makes up the air we breath, the water we drink, the ground we walk on. We are everything in the universe. The illusion of "self" is simply what we are used to seeing from the time we're born, ie. our bodies which stay fairly consistent/usually changes slowly enough that we don't see ourselves as changing.

You don't seem to recognize that their is a world completely independent of your thoughts, feelings, and attitude.

"We are everything in the universe."
Absurd. Many things are ontologically objective.