Subject Identity

It is something similar to Buddhist thought, but actually, it isn’t derived from the Buddhist way of thinking. And I still feel hard to comprehend why “I" don’t exist at all. And I don’t bother myself to check what is “I" in a strict sense in Buddhist literature.

But I still want to define two ways to consider what is ego, and I wonder no one has written similar things before me. They may hold similar positions but they won’t write it in this way.

This thought is related to other thought of mine, but for people who are familiar with philosophy of mind, they are just the importance of qualia and panpsychism.

Ok. There are two different way to comprehend “I". One is called personal identity and the other one is called subject identity. Consider an example: A is a staff in a company, but one day he wakes up finding his surroundings strange. The room he is in is not his familiar room. And when he looks at the mirror near him, he finds himself another one. He is at least 10 years younger and he has become a student. Yeah, he has become a student called B, while he remains his character, memory and so on. Actually A like spicy food while B doesn’t. So a B pretends by A also like spicy food. Here we say that A remains both his personal identity and subject identity.

In another case, A still wakes up in B’s room, but he won’t feel strange. Because his memory is just B’s memory. He just starts his new day as B. And while it is A who feel all the things, he has the same opinion of every thing as B. For example, he doesn’t show any interest in spicy food and is fond of chocolate just as B. In this situation, we call A has changed his personal identity into B but remain his subject identity.

I know some people will think that if he becomes like B every aspect, then he is B already. And here is where I have a dispute with. Actually, your opinion of every thing in this world, your character, your memory, your behavior pattern, your everything…is not all about you. You are the one who feels and judge.

In one of the possible cases, the personal identity depends on your environment. I mean your brain environment, the precise construction of your brain.Some part of the brain contains the memory, and if it is being disturbed, memory will be disturbed. But the one who feels, the subject identity, is a deeper aspect of our world. It isn’t derived from our brain. I won’t be supported by our brain so there is no need to worry that when our brain dies, it will die accordingly.