Kai Galbiso

04/24/16
PHIL1000 Drexler
Identity Within Alzheimers
Over the course of the semester we have covered some very interesting and deep topics,
but there is one that stands out more than others, Identity. Identity stood out for it gives us a
sense of self, it is what we as people know ourselves by, and its how we show people who we
are. This topic especially hit home because I have a grandfather with Alzheimers disease. For
those who don't know, Alzheimer's disease is a progressive, degenerative disorder that attacks the
brain's nerve cells, or neurons, resulting in loss of memory, thinking and language skills, and
behavioral changes (web, online). So clearly one can understand why identity struck home.
John Locke, a famous philosopher, has his memory theory, which is: from all that I
remember from my last memory, your identity is the same, from that moment, because you can
remember that, you are the same self (in class power point). Locke is just stating that from you
last memory that you can remember, thats who you are. So to an Alzheimers patient (if a very
severe case), last memory was from only 10 days ago, who are they? My answer: I don't have
one, but Ill try and make a better understanding.
Lets go back to the basics. When one thinks about identity they usually are talking about
physical appearance and personality. Personality is made through experience (which you have
control over) and physical appearance is purely genetic (no control). We usually identify people
based off of appearance. For example, my grandfather has always look the same to me, and
based off of just appearances one would never guess he has Alzheimers; however, his mind and

memory, are different, making his personality different then it was 3 years ago. I used to believe
that your body was a part of your identity, which I still think is true, but Rowland (another great
philosopher) takes a different approach. He goes on to say that if your head was cut off and put
on another persons body and you see another persons head on your body, then to see that your
body and that persons head were destroyed, you would realize that your Mind (head) was still
alive, meaning that body isn't necessary for the mind. He goes on to say that if we had a way to
sustain the brain, then essentially all we would need is a skull, nothing else. So there in lies a
even bigger question, are we all just stuck inside our brains?
In class, we also watched a movie about Brother Edward, a ex-murderer who had his
memory wiped clean, and was moved millions of miles away from Earth and became a devoted
priest who was a very humble, and loyal man. So even though his memory was wiped clean, and
he has done nothing but good since he became a priest, does that still make him a murderer? My
answer: based on appearances, yes he is still a murderer, the families of the murdered still
identify Brother Edward as a monstrous killer, even though Brother Edward has no recollection
of ever murdering these people. Based on who he is now, he is not a murderer, but a loving
devoted priest. That brings me back to my grandfather. Obviously his memory hasn't been
wiped clean, but there are some flaws (or distinguished) differences about him that only people
from his past know.
To put that in perspective I have interviewed my moms Fianc about his soon to be
father in law. To start, I let Kenny (moms fianc) watch a couple videos of some public
speeches that my grandfather previously had made. As he watched the videos his first response
was, Incredible; however this is not the man that I have know today. Kenny has only known

my grandfather with Alzheimers disease but after watching these videos, he was very intrigued.
Kenny went on to say, that it wasn't that Papa (my grandfather) was so drastically different, but
you could see in his personality, characteristics, and intent were different. Arent those all traits
of identity though? Yes, they are. Obviously Identity goes much deeper than just Alzheimers
but its truly amazing and sad to see someone with this disease almost become a different person,
who was once so set in stone.
Another theory that Rowlands has is about the Soul. I really enjoy the way he talks about
the soul because most of my views are quite similar. Rowland compares the soul to ones favorite
beer. He goes on to say that our body is like the glass or bottle of beer, and the liquid is the
soul. However when you buy that specific bottle of beer, there isn't a real certainty that the
specific liquid you think is going to be in there, is, which until you open it. Rowland's says after,
However, this is precisely what you cant do in the case of souls. You cant open anyones head
up - or anyones anything for that matter - and see the soul. Nor can you hear, smell, touch, or
taste their soul So how can you establish the correlation between soul and body? You cant.
Establishing a correlation between soul and body would be like establishing the correlation
between the outside of a beer bottle and an invisible, intangible, tasteless -therefore singularly
uninteresting- beer thats supposedly inside. (pg. 99). I believe this gives a great example of
what a soul is like, or how we describe our souls. My personal view on souls is like a knife. A
knifes soul purpose in life is to cut things, once the knife becomes dull and can no longer cut,
then the soul purpose of the knife is gone, therefore the knife loses its soul. Souls have no
relation to the physical world and are undetectable, therefore nothing can relate or correlate with
a soul. How this ties in with Alzheimers based on identity: My grandfather has been a certain

way ever since I can remember. He's always been my father figure, bold, smart, dedicated, hardworking, and and educator, which has always been his purpose (soul- based on Rowlands
definition above). Once he was diagnosed with Alzheimers (now looking back at it), I am able
to see the slow recessions of his purpose or cause(soul). Its not that he no longer has these
characteristics, but rather his mind, body and soul have changed enough to have slowly changed
his identity.
In conclusion, identity is who we are today, what we want to be, and what we were. Even
for someone like my grandfather who has Alzheimers he still has a sense of self. What the sense
of self is, we will never know. In his mind he is still Thomas Payzant, but in the minds of others
he is not the man he once was. Has his identity changed? Yes, his identity has changed, and his
soul is slowly changing if you will, but even if the mind forgets, the stain stays on the soul
(either for better or for worse).

Works Cited
"Alzheimer's Foundation of America - Definition of Alzheimer's Disease." Alzheimer's
Foundation of America - Definition of Alzheimer's Disease. Web. 02 May 2016.
URL: http://www.alzfdn.org/AboutAlzheimers/definition.html