William James's theory of personal identity.

Abstract

In this thesis I examine William James's theory of personal identity. I argue that James's work is best viewed as an attempt to incorporate the fundamental insights of both the atomist and the holist traditions. James's ultimate commitment is to the unassailable nature of the basic facts of consciousness. He rejects the theories offered by both Hume and Kant because of their inability to account for basic indubitable characteristics of thought. However, I also show how James's own theory of personal identity also runs its philosophical commitments over the facts of consciousness. My aim here is to show the dangers inherent in any attempt to provide philosophical mechanisms designed to explain the nature of selfhood.