The Ego Trick (baggini, Julian) / quote 44 of 254
Psychological continuity as overlapping connections
modern advocates of psychological continuity as the basis for personal identity over time see memory as just one of a number of psychological connections over time that contribute to this continuity, and they see this continuity in terms of overlapping connections, not rigid, constant ties to each stage of our past selves. These connections include temperament, desire, intention and belief. A person who had a good memory but woke up each day with a different personality or set of preferences would not experience enough psychological continuity to provide unity for the self. Nevertheless, for all its fallibility and constructed nature, it is clear that memory is one of the most, if not the most, important of these connections. Psychologists and neuroscientists are perhaps more explicit about this than philosophers.