한
All people

PHILOSOPHY PROFILE

John Locke

1694

START WITH THE PUZZLE

If consciousness cannot reach a past action, is the present person the one who performed it?

Evidence-backed moments
2
Timeline events
1
Verified places
0

This is a guided intellectual story assembled from verified claims, works, and events in which this thinker actually appears. It avoids filling gaps with a generic encyclopedia biography.

Why this thinker is worth following

Story 1What makes a mind and a self persist?

Locke — The same person as far as consciousness reaches

The question that opens it

If consciousness cannot reach a past action, is the present person the one who performed it?

Follow the argument, not just the name
  1. 1

    Locke connects personal identity to the extent that consciousness reaches backward to past actions or thoughts.

    Check the evidence

    This is an evidence-linked editorial account, not a direct quotation.

    • Locke on Personal Identity

      Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

      Locator: §1 Locke on Persons and Personal Identity; Essay II.xxvii.9

      Open source
  2. 2

    This account separates personal identity from the persistence of the same immaterial soul and has generated competing interpretations of consciousness and substance.

    Check the evidence

    This is an evidence-linked editorial account, not a direct quotation.

    • Locke on Personal Identity

      Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

      Locator: §1 The Basics; §2 Locke on Persons: What’s Up for Debate

      Open source
Try the full inquiry

Decisive moments in time

  1. 1694

    The second edition of the Essay adds the chapter on identity and diversity.

    PerspectiveOpen in question

Continue through questions and works