A teoria das ideias e o conceito de identidade pessoal em Locke

Abstract

In his An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, Chapter XXVII, John Locke establishes personal identity as if it were only the identity of consciousness. In this Master’s thesis, it will be shown that such subject stems directly from Locke’s theory of ideas. In this way, our text is divided into three parts: in the first one, we will reconstruct Locke’s theory of ideas, followed by his critique of innate ideas, on the hypothesis that they stem from the Lockean conception of personal identity; in the second one, we will both present Locke’s preliminary remarks concerning personal identity and analyze his notion of identity; in the third one, we will develop the concept of personal identity as it was exposed in Locke’s Essay, Chapter XXVII, “Of Identity And Diversity”. Having said that, we expect that our thesis may contribute to the Lockean studies in Brazil, especially in those related to the concept of personal identity.