Identity and Memory

Abstract

The way we normally identify persons other than ourselves is through their bodies. My wife has just brought me a cup of tea. I know it was her because I saw her. My friend Brown has called, and I know that I am talking to Brown because I see him sitting in the chair. I may, on a very remote chance in these cases, be mistaken. If I was very deep in my work and did not look round I may not have noticed that my wife had sent the daily help up with the tea. Or my wife and Brown could have been impersonated by someone playing a trick on me. It would need indeed to be an almost unbelievably clever impersonation in these instances of persons I know so well. No one would be troubled by such a possibility. If I had looked and thought I saw my wife then I am sure that it was her.