Dr Millican of Oxford University explains this factor of Locke’s philosophy as an
“ancestral relation to memories” (Millican, 2010). Dr Millican’s work is similar to
Thomas Reid’s critique, “The Brave Officer Paradox” in which he operates an
analogy of an officer who remembers his actions as a general, who remembered
his actions as a child when he was general but not his actions as a child when
officer (Piccirillo, 2010). Seemingly, under this example the officer is not the
same person as the child under Locke’s logic which Piccirillo labels “absurd”. Dr
Millican explains the answer to Reid’s critique through the following analogy, “X
is memory continuous with Y, if either X can remember Y’s actions, or X can
remember the actions of someone who is memory continuous with Y.” (Millican,
2010). This means even if a person cannot remember every action of theirs, say,
as a child, if they can remember a time when they did remember their actions
as a child, then they are the same person. This explains how someone can be the
same person throughout their life, even when they cannot remember their
whole life. Certainly, Dr Millican does provide clarity on how Locke allows for
some memory to be forgotten, but this does not necessarily explain how
personal identity can extend to a new-born baby as no one is memory
continuous with a new-born, not even a young child according to research.
Another way Locke’s theory may fail to extend to those with limited
memory is when applied to those with memory loss or confusion caused by
conditions such as dementia and schizophrenia. When Locke’s theory is applied,
if a person develops a condition that causes them to lose their memory or
confuse their memories and believe they have lived a different life (even if only
temporary), they are not the same person (Fuchs, 2020, p670). While it is true
that today we have far more knowledge of medical issues regarding memory
such as dementia (meaning this is a more modern objection to Locke’s theories),
Locke’s theories perhaps do not stand the test of time when applied to this
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