Personal Identity: What makes me who I am

While I believe that peoples likes and dislikes of certain things (broccoli for example) change over time, what makes an individual remain as the same person on a fundamental level is their genetic makeup and the environment in which they were raised. However, it is only when we reach adulthood (and every area of the brain is fully developed) that we can accurately say we are who and what we are. When a building is under construction, we don’t assume to say that is how the building is meant to be and how it will remain.

Environment is important in shaping a person’s sense of identity. Someone who is genetically pre-disposed to depression may still enjoy a productive and healthy life, so long as their environment as a child was a supportive and loving one. Someone who (as an adult) hates dogs could have had some sort of traumatic experience when they were young, a dog might have knocked them off their bike or bit their hand. This person didn’t choose to have a certain characteristic of their personality be altered by a single incident; nevertheless it changed a core value of who they are. Our upbringing and our genetics determine a great deal of what we consider to be “us”. It would be nice to feel as though we had complete control over who we are, but I don’t believe that’s the case. Is a serial killer objectively responsible for his actions if scanners show that his brain is abnormal and similar to that of an epileptic? What if he was terribly abused as a child? Or both? It’s difficult to understand exactly what makes us who we are without looking at these factors.

How can I describe what makes me, me? If you were to make a clone of me, send that infant clone back in time to 1992, and make sure it experienced every single thing that I have now until this point; you would have a perfect replica of me. But can I honestly call it a replica? Will it act in the same way that I do? Will it have the same interests…likes and dislikes? I have no basis to argue that I am the real me, since this clone has every memory that I do, and every physical feature.

Of course our genetics and environmental influences are seated in the brain, which is required in order to be individual at all. A key component in self-identification is memory; without it how can you know who you are? If you can’t remember the experiences that help shape the way you think, feel, and act the way you do, you’ve become a “different” person.  Any external physical alteration done to the brain may also make you a different person. Therefore it is crucial to have a healthy brain in order to have a truer sense of “self”. Knowledge is also the driving force of what alters a person’s sense of self. If you never knew about something, how can you appreciate it? If children were never taught about religion, they could go their whole lives without knowing about something that often defines most people. 

I agree with the philosopher David Hume when it comes to our (general) belief of an underlying, constant self: "we are never intimately conscious of anything but a particular perception; man is a bundle or collection of different perceptions which succeed one another with an inconceivable rapidity and are in perpetual flux and movement". When it comes to personal identity, I feel that we’re always changing; there are no “factory settings” to which we revert to at the beginning of every day. However, there are limits to those changes; because certain core elements of our personality will remain the same as long as our environment continues to support those elements, and if our brains remain unaltered in any significant way. My dad is a big fan of rock and roll, and my mom is a fan of classical music. I enjoy both, and I believe I always will. But even though I enjoy both these genres, that doesn’t mean I won’t be able to acquire a taste for a certain pop song.  Additionally, I grew up in an environment that was supportive of both these styles of music, and perhaps it’s possible to inherit a certain taste in music as well. If I was exposed to rap as a child, and had a parent that enjoyed this genre; would I enjoy rap as opposed to rock n roll? I think the answer is yes. Unless of course (like in the movie “A Clockwork Orange”) I am physically, mentally or socially discouraged from liking a certain thing, and as long as my brain remains physically sound; I will continue to like it. This is why certain parts of me remain unaltered, and it is these pieces of myself that help to paint the bigger picture of “me”. The colors can change, but the outline remains the same.