Do you agree with Hume that, “as memory alone acquaints us with the continuance and extent of this succession of perceptions, it is to be considered, upon that account chiefly, as the source of personal identity”?

Topic: Do you agree with Hume that, “as memory alone acquaints us with the continuance and extent of this succession of perceptions, it is to be considered, upon that account chiefly, as the source of personal identity”?

Thoughts : This essay will first involve you to do a very careful job at reconstructing Hume’s argument for why memory is the source of personal identity. This will involve reading and re-reading “The Self As Bundle” article (especially 289-90). Once this is established you should focus your argument on some of the key terms in this sentence. Some of these may include: “memory alone”, i.e. it is only memory that gives us our account of personal identity; “continuance and extent of the succession of perception” i.e. can there be other forces that acquaint us with personal identity, or can there be another source of personal identity that provides us with the continuance and succession of perception?

Paragraph 1: INTRODUCTION (~200 words)
-Brief introduction to the problem and the topic of the essay, keep it brief though, you will go into more detail later.
-Thesis statement.
-Roadmap (an explanation of how you are structuring your argument; i.e. explain the steps of your essay)

Paragraphs 2-3 EXEGESIS (~600 words) Mainly descriptive.
– Describe the argument or debate that is the focus
of your essay. Be sure to keep the description to relevant aspects of the positions rather than the whole view.[I.e., describe Marx’s argument for alienation; or describe the Eliminativst and Social Constructivist positions; or describe Frye’s and Epictetus’s views on suffering; or describe the moral positions of Utilitarianism and Kantianism.]

Paragraphs 4-5 ARGUMENT(~600 words) What is your view? Most importantly, this should be *your*
argument (i.e. not an argument found in a text or video). How can you provide a defense of your position? In other words, this is where you answer the main question posed. Also this must be ONE major claim (not a list of 3-4 different arguments disguised as one argument).
Paragraphs 6-7 OBJECTION (~400 words) How might someone disagree with your argument? It should be a good objection, that you spend some time developing. You want to convince your reader that this is an important objection that your argument needs to address to be successful. Again, this is ONE objection, not 3-4 objections disguised as one.

Paragraphs 8-9 REPLY (~400 words) After posing a serious objection, be sure to respond to it! You don’t necessarily need to be able to show that the objection is categorically wrong, perhaps you must modify your argument in order to address it, but you do need to show how your argument can come back.

Paragraph 10 CONCLUSION (~200 words) Remind the reader what you have argued for. Among other things, this should probably include as precise an answer as possible to the question you have been set, and a summary of how you arrived at that answer. Also you could point out what you haven’t argued for, what your argument doesn’t show.