What makes me who I am?

Email me at [email protected] with any comments, questions or tuition requests! Astghik Petrosyan, Academic Manager at Prime UK Education and someone with a keen interest in life's big questions, joins me to discuss the nature of personal identity: what constitutes human existence; what is the essence of a person; and the connection between this question and the nature of reality itself. 00:00 Introduction 00:51 Human beings as a mix of things with consciousness as the foundation 1:43 The paradox of identity and change as a constant 3:24 Plato's problem with change and physicality 3:53 The Ship of Theseus paradox and Trigger's broom 5:10 Does any part of us stay the same? 6:00 Life being more about unlearning than learning 6:37 The connection between our younger selves and our life purpose 7:10 The Buddhist conception of the self: nonattachment 8:24 What we do versus who we are: societal expectations and conditioning 9:14 Are you the same person now as you were at the age of three? 9:40 The value of awareness and experience 10:31 Would we be the same person if we lost all our memories? John Locke 12:36 Life as a learning opportunity, inevitable events and soul contracts 14:36 Was Shakespeare right to say "All the world's a stage"? Life as a play + NDEs 16:21 The bigger picture and pragmatism 17:26 Conclusion    • Trigger's Broom