Solving the Problems of Hume’s Idea of Personal Identity: Based on Basic Views of the Sa?yukt?gama-S?tra
Date Issued
2010
Date
2010
Author(s)
Huang, I-Wen
Abstract
In this article, I will employ the basic views of the Saṃyuktāgama-Sūtra to investigate Hume’s own theory of personal identity, and solve the problems of Hume’s idea of personal identity. I will also deal with the difficulties the western traditional theories face.
Hume takes one’s experience as the only foundation of knowledge, and emphasized the realness of sensation and perception; anything beyond that is to be taken as dubious. Thus, while examining ideas such as ‘the self’ and personal identity, he criticized the traditional approaches to the self as dealing with something merely illusionary. Though Hume’s theory of personal identity seems to progress beyond the traditional approaches, it also has its own difficulties.
The changing of the appearances of the world is caused by related conditions. Therefore, it is impossible to faithfully describe the reality of world by using fixed and relative/opposing expressions or ideas. The self and the idea of personal identity imply something individual, persisting and the assertive concept: ‘the same.’ These ideas, however, could only be defined through opposition. Drawing insight from the basic views of the Saṃyuktāgama-Sūtra, namely pratītya-samutpāda (dependent co-arising)、anitya (impermanence)、a-dvaya (non-duality)、śūnyatā (emptiness), I will show that the ideas on which the theories of personal identity are based are illegitimate.
The ideas related with the problem of personal identity could only be defined through opposition. This, I will show, is the crux of the problem. Once one has rejected these ideas, both the traditional problem of identity and Hume’s difficulties could be solved.
According to the Saṃyuktāgama-Sūtra, the idea of individuality must be given a new understanding, and shifted into the mutable flux of life. Through the examination of such a process, one could come to understand the very concept of ‘person’ or ‘life.’ In combination with the theory of karma, such an approach to the idea of personal identity could also shed light upon the problem of the attribution of responsibility, which is inevitably based on the very idea of personal identity. By solving the problems of personal identity, one could not only avoid the difficulties the theories of personal identity encounter, but also give a better explanation to issues which seem to be based on that very idea.
Subjects
personal identity
Self
Hume
dependent co-arising
impermanence
non-duality
emptiness
an?tman
karma
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