Abstract

In the course of presenting the classical debate on personal identity in analytical philosophy, the article argues that this debate leads to an aporetic result. Neither the Bundel Theory nor the Ego Theory can adequately account for both the nature and the importance of personal identity. According to the empiricist account the importance of personal identity is nothing but an existential fiction, while according to the metaphysical account the nature of personal identity in the last analysis consists of an ontological fiction. Correspondingly, the empiricist Bundel Theory gives rise to a destructive conventionalism, whereas the metaphysical Ego Theory involves a miraculous essentialism. The problem of personal identity in analytical philosophy, therefore, still remains unresolved in the light of common-sensical intuitions