4b

You are you because of who you are. Your memory simply serves as a witness, saying that yes I remember this event. If you do not have your memory you are still the same person, you swam in a pool once, you laughed, and you cried, you simply forget when you did these things. My great uncle had Alzheimer’s. Over time, he forgot my name, he forgot our jokes, he forgot his songs, but he was still himself. He did not remember the little things or big things, but there were moments when he was the still Uncle B. You may lose the ability to recall events but those events do not make you. Your actions do and he lived until the day he died. He would smile or ask a question and you knew he was still there. Deep down I like to believe he knew that he was the same too, he just could not communicate the fact that he knew. St. Augustine puts connects identity and memory and I think this relationship is true. For example in the basic sense, if you fall off a high ladder you may become afraid of heights. That becomes a part of your identity. That fear from that memory causes you to be identified as a person afraid of heights. If you lose your memory it does not change the fact that you are afraid of heights, you just might forget that.