Please write an essay between 300 and 500 words in length on the topic of personal identity. You can choose to defend either the memory criterion or the bodily criterion. Your essay should mirror your argument map on the same topic. However, if you feel that you have changed your mind, and want to support the alternative view, you may do so. The essay has three primary goals. (i) Give compelling reasons for one theory of personal identity. (ii) Give a compelling objection either to one of those reasons, or to the theory itself. (iii) Give a compelling rebuttal to the objection. The rebuttal has special significance: it is an opportunity for you to insert your own creative ideas into the discussion. Therefore, you should not take the content of your rebuttal from my slides. Nor should you take it from the book. I’d like to see you bring in a new idea of your own. Please use at least one example to illustrate your view. Movies are an excellent resource for examples. You can also use literature, personal experience, something in the news, or something from history. In philosophy, we think of evidence in the broadest possible sense. So as long as your example helps to illustrate the theory, it is allowed.
