Extended Identity and Forensic Personhood: A Neo-Nozickean Argument

Abstract

This paper proposes an account of extended personhood and identity, and argues that personhood ought to be understood in forensic terms. The proposed account utilizes the extended mind thesis in conjunction with a substantially modified version of Robert Nozick’s Closest Continuer Theory (CCT). In addition to offering an account of extended identity, the ensuing externalist reading of Nozick’s CCT solves a longstanding problem with Nozick’s account. Nozick argues that temporal identification of persons depends on the person’s own subjective metric. While this is an innovative approach to diachronic personal identity, the potential for excessive subjectivity is also one of the problematic features of Nozick’s CCT. This paper argues, however, that even though Nozick is not an externalist with regard to personal identity or cognition, nevertheless, given Nozick’s broader philosophical contemplations, an extended or externalist reading remains logically consistent with Nozick’s general conclusions. Moreover, the proposed reframing of the CCT in externalist terms buttresses Nozick’s argument as the amended neo-Nozickean account helps to properly curb the subjectivity inherent in the CCT enough to avoid absurd identifications while retaining the focus on subjective self-formation, which is integral to Nozick’s innovative proposal.