Melvin Said:

Question of John Locke's theory of Personhood?

We Answered:

In his Essay, Locke explains the gradual unfolding of this conscious mind. Arguing against both the Augustinian view of man as originally sinful and the Cartesian position, which holds that man innately knows basic logical propositions, Locke posits an "empty" mind, a tabula rasa, which is shaped by experience; sensations and reflections being the two sources of all our ideas.Locke's Some Thoughts Concerning Education is an outline on how to educate this mind: he expresses the belief that education maketh the man, or, more fundamentally, that the mind is an "empty cabinet", with the statement, "I think I may say that of all the men we meet with, nine parts of ten are what they are, good or evil, useful or not, by their education."

Locke did not believe we had any knowledge at birth, nor any original sin. We begin as an empty slate and use our senses to gain knowledge, which is my view as well.

We are the same person insofar as our consciousness/memory now is the same as it was in the past. However it is a mistake to treat memory as an extention of conscienceness as Thomas Reid points out. Memory is like a memory stick, it hold information, but without the Computer (conscience) it really has nowhere to go.(my example)

The view is similar to that of John Stuart Mill, who postulated that life is a Permanent Possibility of Sensations.

If a normal person is suddenly deemed brain dead but the body lives, the person is gone, but the body remains. You can also say that humans change constantly, as we gain experience, so the person changes, but the body remains.

Michele Said:

If you were going to design a study investigating the relationship between alcohol and violence?

We Answered:

Correlational or Survey

Correlations between alcohol and violent crime among prison populations

Survey of men in prison who committed violent crime while under the influence

Ethical consideration; anonymity