The problem with personal identity seems to be the ability to say one is the same over time. That you, your identity, and your personhood is the same from when one is born until they die. Ruling out qualitative identity because human bodies are forever changing. The idea of personal identity is deeper than what is merely seen.
In the case of Sam Bell in the movie Moon, directed by Duncan Jones, Sam’s personal identity is challenged. In order to properly explain the complex idea of clones some theories of personal identity must be explored. The questions that need answering are what qualifies one to say they are the same over time and what personal identity is. As well as whether or not soul-theory of personal identity or psychological continuity theory can explain this case or if further explanation is needed.
The soul-theory of personal identity is a theory in philosophy that is responsible for claiming that people are equal through their single soul. The theory says sharing one and the same soul is all one needs to verify they are equal to the soul they claim as their own. Soul theorists can expand this view to say if one has a soul that qualifies them as human.
The soul is a non-physical thing, so it can be described as a numerical identity, not a qualitative identity. Because it is a numerical identity one can say that there is only one soul in a person, not two. A soul from one period in time is one with the soul from another point in time. This is how soul theorists justify that a human can be a same person over time. This verifies the idea of personal identity, by saying that having the same soul makes that person the same over time. This means that someone can say they are themselves today or last week or anytime.
The only qualities that are presented that a soul might have is its responsibility for humans’ conscious thought and mental acts. These qualities are what set one soul apart from another. This is where the problems begin for soul theorists. The problem with this view is the very definition of a soul. A soul is supposed to be a non-physical thing, so it cannot be expressed accurately in human vocabulary as well as explained in any scientific way. Also, it contradicts current science, so there is little to no facts that can appropriately support this idea of a soul.
In the movie Moon, the character Sam Bell has one soul. At the beginning it is known this character is living a unique life. Later it is revealed that he is one of many clones. The question becomes, who is Sam Bell? One can argue they have the same soul. Soul-theory only says they need to have the same soul, which could be simplified to same conscious. One similarity is when all the Sams are awaken the first thing that they ask Gerty is where am I. This shows they are all concerned with their well-being. Another similarity is they seem to have the same love for Tess.
The biggest hint into Sam Bell’s conscious is when the pair decide to wake another clone. New Sam must kill another clone to set the scene, so the old Sam can escape. The older Sam asks the newer Sam, “What are you going to do, kill him?”. When he doesn’t get a reply old Sam says, “You cannot because I couldn’t kill someone.” Sam compares his conscious to verify they have the same conscious and same soul. The fact he knows the mental capacity of this other being shows they share a soul. It is also interesting how he says you cannot kill anybody when referring to the other clone. He does not say you can’t kill yourself but refers to the clone as someone. This may be because the clone has not been awakened and is in an unconscious state, therefore is not seen as human and lacks the same soul as the awakened clones.
Psychological continuity theory explains numerical personal identity. Psychological continuity is defined as an uninterrupted psychological state as well as that person’s recollection of memories as their own. If someone remembers something and believes those actions are their own, then in fact they are. If a person knows for a fact that their actions or conscious acts are their own, then they in fact are the same person. This isn’t remembering one time you saw some person doing something it is remembering it as if you acted it out in the first person.
Say one remembered they were an astronaut but was actually remembering someone else’s memories. They remember how scared they were taking off and the entire experience as their own. Psychological continuity theorist would say that both those people have to be the same because that person truly believes that experience was their own. Because all Sams have a series of overlapping memories, this theory is arguable and therefore proves they are the same.
In the movie the two clones interact with each other, so spotting their differences is easy. What is harder to uncover is the idea that these clones have different personal identities. The movie presents these two Sams as different physical things. Their actions and personalities seem to be extremely different when comparing these two clones’ side by side. There appears to be a drastic emotional difference between the two clones. Sam Bell found in the crash seems calm and scared by the new Sam Bell. The newly awaken Sam seems to be aggressive and compulsive.
Other differences include, their physical condition, spatial location, as well as they are made from different matter. They both do different things and even ask each other about remembering past experiences on earth. From the moment they are awakened they see only their own actions as their own. An example of this is when the old Sam wakes up, he asks Gerty who the man in the room is. He sees this other person’s action not as his own. So, from the moment each clone is awakened they do not believe that they are the same as the other. But according to psychological continuity theory, they are the same as the original Sam before the cloning.
The clones remember all the original actions and memories of Sam Bell as there own, which says their personal identity is Sam Bell. Without any interruptions on the space station each clone would live their life knowing they are Sam Bell, which is the only qualification to verify that they are Sam Bell. In this case according to psychological continuity theorists they would for sure be Sam Bell. The problem with this is that there are multiple Sam Bells that all think they are the original.
Both views presented have different outcomes on whether or not the clones are really Sam Bell. The soul-theory of personal identity says they are the same person because they share the same soul. This explanation is troubling because there is no formal definition of a soul or anything non-physical for that matter. So, this theory is problematic because instead of comparing soul’s, consciousness’ has to be used because that is the closest humans can get to a definition of a soul.
Understanding that the Sam’s might have the same feeling or thoughts about stuff is the only way to compare souls. Even then it is still up to interpretation for what a soul is. Psychological continuity theory says they are the same because they share at least one memory in the original Sam Bells life and believe it is their own, then they are Sam Bell. In terms of explaining the identity of humans through psychological continuity theory is better because there is little up to interpretation in this theory.
This theory accounts for what is actually observable and can verify they are the same one person, especially if left undisturbed. Yet this theory still lacks because someone just needs one moment where they believed they are the same or did the same thing as another to say they are identical. Which we can see just from the movie they do not seem to be the same person but share the same memories.
In this movie the problem of cloning is what challenges psychological continuity theory. Further explanation is needed in order to explain having memories as your own and sharing memories with another. For the Sam Bell case it is clear there are at least three different Sam’s. So, making a theory that focuses on conscious understanding of who one is could explain this movie. It would also include duplicating psychological continuity into other conscious beings.
This theory would describe personal identity as a conscious understanding of who one is. Up until the time of duplication everyone is equal, but at the moment they are made into separate beings and do different things they become two different people. The clone could say I was Sam but after we became separate identities. This could also explain memory loss because that person can no longer remember the previous actions as their own, so now they have become a new person. They only can remember themselves now and what they are like in that moment, they have a conscious understanding that this is them. All the things they forgot are not a conscious understanding for them, therefore they are not the same person as before.
This theory builds off of the psychological continuity theory and could properly explain how each clone would be unique and not actually Sam Bell but have his identity up until they became their own unique beings. These people are created from someone and at the moment they are created they are the same, but from that moment on they have different conscious understanding and actions that will separate them.
