Gurevich P.S. John Locke's Error (Or Whether Memory Can Be the Criterion of Identity?)

Abstract: The article is devoted to the critical analysis of John Locke's concept who was one of the first in the history of European philosophy to raise the problem of human identity. According to the author of the article, Locke's work 'An Essay Concerning Human Understanding' presents an attempt to develop the concept of personality. This is the concept that appeared to be the key concept in Locke's following thoughts on what guarantees an integrity of human self-identity. Locke believed that memory was the guarantee of individual's self-identity. According to Locke, this is memory that allows human to imagine himself in different places and at different times. This is quite a philosophical point of view, however, it was not supported by the following development of psychology. In his research Gurevich has used methods of historical and philosophical research. This has allowed him to describe the role of Locke's concept and its insufficiency for further development of Locke's ideas in psychology and philosophy. For the first time in Russian academic literature John Locke's concept of personal identity is critically analyzed taking into account following discoveries in the spheres of philosophy and psychology. The author demonstrates that memory does not have a universal ability to develop one's personality. Memory is selective, thus it is more likely to prove the theory of forgetting rather than to develop the core of personality. In his research article Gurevich also provides a psychoanalytical interpretation of Pavel Lungin's movie The Island. Based on Gurevich, John Locke's error is his statement that human memory is flawless. Flaws of memory are what guarantees security of personality. 

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