Whereas "identity" is (literally) sameness[1] and may involve categorization and labeling,[2] selfhood implies a first-person perspective and suggests potential uniqueness.
[4] Current views of the self in psychology positions the self as playing an integral part in human motivation, cognition, affect, and social identity.
[5] Self, following the ideas of John Locke, has been seen as a product of episodic memory[6] but research on people with amnesia reveals that they have a coherent sense of self based on preserved conceptual autobiographical knowledge.
A goal of this ongoing research is to provide grounding insight into the elements of which the complex multiple situated selves of human identity are composed.
[16] Culture consists of explicit and implicit patterns of historically derived and selected ideas and their embodiment in institutions, cognitive and social practices, and artifacts.
The interdependent self is supposed to be altruistic, similar with the others, flexible according to contexts, conformist, and unlikely to express opinions that would disturb the harmony of his or her group of belonging.
[19] However, this theory has been criticized by other sociologists, including David Matsumoto[20] for being based on popular stereotypes and myths about different cultures rather than on rigorous scientific research.
[23] In addition to the writings of Emmanuel Levinas (1906-1995) on "otherness", the distinction between "you" and "me" has been further elaborated in Martin Buber's 1923 philosophical work Ich und Du.
)[25] Hellie's argument is closely related to Caspar Hare's theories of egocentric presentism and perspectival realism, of which several other philosophers have written reviews.
[30] Open individualism is a view in the philosophy of self, according to which there exists only one numerically identical subject, who is everyone at all times, in the past, present and future.
In Buddhism, the term anattā (Pali: 𑀅𑀦𑀢𑁆𑀢𑀸) or anātman (Sanskrit: अनात्मन्) is the doctrine of "non-self" – that no unchanging, permanent self or essence can be found in any phenomenon.
[32][33] In contrast, dominant schools of Hinduism assert the existence of Ātman as pure awareness or witness-consciousness,[34][35][36] "reify[ing] consciousness as an eternal self.
On Mars, another machine re-creates you (from local stores of carbon, hydrogen, and so on), each atom in exactly the same relative position.
Parfit poses the question of whether or not the teletransporter is actually a method of travel, or if it simply kills and makes an exact replica of the user.
Using thought experiments such as these, Parfit argues that any criteria we attempt to use to determine sameness of person will be lacking, because there is no further fact.
Another definition of spiritual identity is: "A persistent sense of Self that addresses ultimate questions about the nature, purpose, and meaning of life, resulting in behaviors that are consonant with the individual’s core values.