On Earth As It Is in Heaven: Trinitarian Influences on Locke's Account of Personal Identity

John Barresi, Dalhousie University

Introduction

John Locke's discussion of personal identity in the 1694 (second) edition of his Essay Concerning Human Understanding has had enormous influence on subsequent discussions of personal identity down to our own times. Almost all modern discussions of the concept of person look back to Locke, and only to Locke, as their starting point. It is as if Locke were the first person ever to consider the topic of personal identity, though this is certainly not the case. In fact, the concept of person, and what determines the nature and identity of persons, has had a long history in Western thought. However, what truly marks the difference between this history and Locke's discussion is that most of the previous discussion of persons occurred in the context of heavenly rather than earthly matters. The most intense discussions of the nature and identity of persons were tied to supernatural questions: How could the same human person arise again at the resurrection? How do angels, or heavenly persons, differ from human persons? How is it possible for three distinct persons to be one God? How can Christ be a person who is both man and God?