There are many different theories as to what identity truly means and one is the physical continuity theory. This theory states that a person is the same person now as they were at birth if their body has successfully existed continuously from then until now. This is to say that myself, Lily Castro, is indeed the same person I was when I was born due to the sole fact that my body has physically existed since birth until the time I am writing the words on this paper. But if physical continuity is required for personal identity, then what happens after death when your body ceases to exist? If you take a pencil and grind it to fine dust, the pile of dust that is left is no longer the same pencil you once had before. This example goes to show that if we support this theory to clas- sify a person’s identity, then continuing to exist after death really is a “conceptual im- possibility” (Litch, 69) and any one individual who has maintained their physical state throughout their lifetime can successfully say they have an identity.
To say that what makes me “me” are my psychological traits rather than my physical ones, is to support the psychological continuity theory. This goes to say that I am the same person I was last year because I hold the same psychological properties now that I held then. People can call this a stream of consciousness. Some say that this stream is made of our personalities, values, and desires while others say psycho- logical continuity is only achieved by memory.
The 2002 psychological thriller Memento sheds light onto the questions of what makes someone “them?” What is identity? And if you take just one thing out of the in- gredient bowl of what makes that person them, now who are they? These are ques- tions that I already ask myself daily as I search for the answers as to why humans are here on this planet, leading me to further wonder, who even are we?
Memento has a plot that revolves around Leonard Shelby’s anterograde amne- sia, thus the first variable that could possibly alter who he once was. Anterograde am- nesia is the inability to form new memories thus making his struggle in searching for his wife’s murderer all the more challenging. Seeings Leonard is unable to hold new memories, he constantly writes down whatever information he learns about his wife’s mur- der in order to remind himself later on when he can’t remember. Each time Leonard falls asleep, he wakes up with a completely refreshed memory, making it hard to re- member who to trust, or who to remember in the first place. His condition makes it fair- ly easy for the average person to take advantage of him and the plot thickens when a woman is introduced into his life whom is deceptive and uses his condition against him for her own gain. After a series of clues he gathered and with the deception this woman has placed on him, Leonard comes to the conclusion that his wife’s killer goes by the name “John G.” After all, he did lose two of the most important things in his life; his wife and his memory, and this whole cycle Leonard puts himself through might just be his way of giving himself a sense of purpose in life. By the end of the film, we learn that Leonard has already found the killer of his wife but due to his memory loss, he doesn’t remember this and continually sets out to find a new “John G.”
This movie could be placed into the realm of psychological continuity theory be- cause some can say Leonard does in fact have a stream of consciousness that makes up his identity due to his values and desires. Leonard holds the value for his marriage and seeings this is the last thing he truly can remember, it adds even more value for him to continue his memory of her. He also holds a longing desire to find his wife’s killer and one could say that the value he places on his marriage and his desire to find the killer are in fact the two leading proponents in what make “Leonard” Leonard. For those who believe that psychological continuity is achieved by memory, they would ar- gue that those two things are the only things that make up his identity and his person- ality doesn’t stretch farther than these two memories allow him. In the movie, Leonard displays direct awareness of the doubt that could be placed on him because of his condition by saying “My wife deserves vengeance. Doesn’t make any difference whether I know about it. Just because there are things I don’t remember, doesn’t make my actions meaningless. The world doesn’t just disappear when you close your eyes does it?”
There are two versions of the psychological continuity theory and the first is that long standing characteristics and personality traits are what identify people over time. The first says that “a continuous stream of consciousness is the backbone of a per- sonal identity” (Litch, 83). To support the this version we could argue that Leonard does indeed have an identity and that identity is composed of the long standing desire he has to solve his wife’s murder and find the killer. He wakes up and due to the notes he writes himself, he remembers what he wants to do and therefore this cycle he goes through everyday could be considered “long standing.” Leonard says to himself, “Memory’s not perfect, it’s not even that good. Ask the police. Eyewitness testimony is unreliable. The cops don’t catch a killer by sitting around remembering stuff. They collect facts, make notes, and they draw conclusions. Facts not memories. Memories can be distorted, they’re just an interpretation, they're not a record. They’re irrelevant if you have the facts.”
The second version is to say that a continuous stream of consciousness is needed in order to give Leonard a distinguished individual personality. This theory states that “no single thought lasts for very long, but the stream is continuous [and]... the unity of this stream is what defines personhood” (Litch, 83). Leonard does have thoughts, they don’t last for very long, but the stream is continuous, and so therefore he must have “personhood.” “I know what that’s going to feel like when I touch it” Leonard says in the movie, “I know what that’s going to feel like when I pick it up. See certainties. That’s the kind of memories you take for granted.” Leonard has overlapping thoughts that come and go and while he might not remember exactly what he did the day before let alone who he spoke to, he accesses these memories though a series of links.
Both the physical and psychological theories state that I, Lily Castro, am indeed the same person I was when I was born due to the sole fact that my body and my stream of consciousness has existed since birth and up until now. For my younger self and my current self to be accessible to each other, I only need a series of memory links so while I may not remember the exact thoughts I had when I was three years old, I have certain memories that tie together my younger and current self. I can still suc- cessfully say “Hey I am still the same Lily Castro.”
To say Leonard Shelby is not the same person as he was before the murder of his wife and before his memory condition, would be a true statement; but to say Leonard Shelby doesn’t have an identity, is false. Although Leonard cannot form any new memories, it is not to say that he doesn’t have access to his old memories, thus he is able to tie his current self to himself before the murder. And although Leonard needs reassurance from himself the day before of what to do the next day in “solving” the murder case, these are both the same selves focusing on the same values and same desires. Leonard is proven to be the same person physically by the physical con- tinuity theory and the same person psychologically by the psychological continuity theory.
Citations
Litch, Mary M, and Amy Karofsky. Philosophy Through Film. New York: Routledge, 2015. Print.
Nolan, Christopher, Guy Pearce, Carrie-Anne Moss, and Joe Pantoliano. Memento. Widescreen, limited ed. version. Montreal: Alliance Atlantis, 2001.