Abstract

PINHEIRO, Ulysses. O estatuto ontológico das pessoas no Ensaio de Locke. Rev. latinoam. filos. [online]. 2012, vol.38, n.2, pp.131-170. ISSN 1852-7353.

The theory on personal identity, added by Locke in the second edition of his Essay on Human Understanding, displays a dubious characterization on the nature of persons. In the one hand, it seems that persons can not be characterized as substances. But, on the other hand, the only available alternative - viz., to characterize them as modes - is not entirely satisfactory either. One could say that there is a possibility left, that of considering persons as the correspondents of a mere pragmatic attitude men take in relation to themselves, but unfortunately this alternative is also subjected to some serious problems. Taking into consideration these difficulties, this paper proposes that the best account of the text is not to undertake a determination of what Locke really wanted to say, emending in some way his writing, but rather to consider these ambiguities as the sign of a positive philosophical position.

Keywords : Locke; Personal identity; Substance; Mode; Natural kinds; Conventional entities.

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