The 2006 film Away from Her related the story of a retired couple, Grant and Fiona. Fiona is suffering from Alzheimer’s disease and, as her condition worsens, she eventually decides to enter a nursing home. The facility has a policy that requires each new resident to have no visitors for a period of 30 days to adjust to their new life. After the period of adjustment is over, Grant visits his wife. However, she has forgotten her husband and instead has focused her attentions on Aubrey, a mute man she has met at the facility.
Is Fiona the same person in the facility who has forgotten most memories of her past life as the women who was happily married to Grant for all those years?
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteFiona is the same person by both the body view and the memory view. Fiona is in the same body so she is the same person as before the three weeks according to the body view. There was never a discontinuation of body, her body was preserved even if her memory may have gotten a little bit more murky. By the memory view she is also still the same person because she retains some of the same memories. It is unreasonable to assume people would remember everything from their life so as long as there is a single connecting memory they are the same person. If I forget what I had for lunch 13 years ago that does not mean that I am a completely different person, it just means that it is near impossible for the human brain to retain every single event that has occurred in a given person’s life. Fiona retains at least some memories of her life so she is the same person. In the movie she is shown to remember some memories like where she used to live and occasional bits and pieces of other events. To be the same person she must have at least a link of a real memory. A real memory is one that she actually experienced. If she didn’t actually experience something and is merely pretending to or was convinced that she did, it isn’t an actual link and she wouldn’t be the same person. But because she actually experienced the memories that she remembers, she is the same person.
ReplyDeleteIn the 2006 film Away From Her, Fiona is not the same person she was before she arrived at the nursing home. Fiona suffers from Alzheimer’s, so she loses memories over time. When she was dropped off at the nursing home at the beginning of the film, she knew she was married to Grant. When he returned 30 days later, she had forgotten about their marriage and saw him more as a friend. She even had a new partner/boyfriend. According to Locke’s memory view, one must have the same memories as another person to be considered the same person. If Fiona did not remember who her husband was, she lost part of her memory. If she lost part of her memory, she does not have the same memories as the Fiona from 30 days ago. If she does not have the same memories as the Fiona from 30 days ago, she is a different person. She may still have the same body and physical features as Fiona from 30 days prior, but she has a different identity. The body view states that a person’s identity is solely based off one’s physical appearance therefore if they have the same body, then they are the same person. In Fiona’s case, this would mean she was the same exact person as the person who arrived at the nursing home a month before; however, Fiona forgets much of her past making her seem like a complete stranger. According to the memory theory, Fiona is a complete stranger to the person from 30 days prior because she is a different person with different memories.
ReplyDeleteFiona is not the same person she was when she first entered the nursing home. Memory is what shapes identity because it is unique to each individual. Memory is also a vital aspect of the brain which controls the thoughts and other aspects of identity. No two people can ever share the same memory of the same thing. This is why when Grant was forced to leave Fiona at the nursing home for thirty days before getting to visit her, a part of her identity was lost and she changed drastically as a person. Fiona’s brain had completely changed, she had new memories, and could not recall the ones she shared with Grant. She had a completely knew partner and was making new memories with him instead. When Grant saw Fiona at the nursing home after the thirty days, she talked to him as if they were just friends and changed her whole demeanor toward him. She had lost much of the memories they shared together and was not the same person she was before. She had many experiences and shared many relationships with other people that she had lost. She didn’t realize that she had left an entire aspect of her life behind her. It also not possible to share the same connections that were once shared with other people if the memories with them are forgotten. Memories are a vital aspect of identity which is why Fiona is not the same person as she was when she first entered the nursing home.
ReplyDeleteIn the 2006 film 'Away from Her', a character, Fiona, has Alzheimer's and therefore is voluntarily sent to a nursing home. Due to her condition, she will lose her memories over time. She starts off at the nursing home with her husband, and even remembers a park they went to in the past. However, after a month of adjusting to the nursing home, her husband, Grant, goes to visit her, but realizes that Fiona has lost her memories of him, but still remembers things from her past, which is evident from the fact that she had a new partner that she even introduced to Grant. At this point, Fiona is still the same person. She doesn't remember the recent things that occurred to her, as she forgot her husband, but she still remembered things of her past. According to the memory view of personal identity, person a is identical to person b if person b has an indirect link of a real memory to person a. Fiona has an indirect link to her past self before she forgot her husband and before she went to the nursing home, this link of memory is a real memory, and therefore links the current Fiona to the Fiona of the past, so she is the same person from before. As long as the current Fiona remembers some part of her past, she is the same Fiona, even though she has lost some of her current memories of Grant, her husband.
ReplyDeleteFiona has Alzheimers and voluntarily commits to a nursing home. The question is raised whether Fiona is still the same person after the 3 weeks that she is left to get accustomed to her new surroundings, during which she loses a considerable portion of her memory, including her marriage with her husband. I believe she is a different person. According to aspects of the body view, she has clearly contained bodily continuity which states that she is still the same person, but I dont think bodily continuity is all that makes up a person's identity. She also has aspects of psychological continuity, another view for the argument of what makes up identity. Both of these points can be used to argue that Fiona is still the same person, but I disagree that she is. I think that there needs to be more added to the definition of the memory view because although Fiona still contains memories that can create an indirect link through her life, I do not think she is the same person. I think that in order for someone to be the same person, their psychological continuity needs to be intact to the point that large chunks of our life are not missing. I believe that people in your life shape you to be the person you are, and so when Fiona forgets someone so important to her, her partner, I think that the memories with him that helped develop who she is are gone, meaning that she is a different person. This does not mean that she is a new person, she could become more like her old self before she met her husband, I just do not believe she is the same person as she was when she remembered her husband.
ReplyDeleteFiona is still the same person when she enters the nursing home as when Grant visits her. When Fiona was dropped off at the nursing home, Grant was allowed to see her for 30 days. During this time, she has completely forgotten Grant, which raises the question if she is the same person as before. If we look at this problem through the body view, the answer is pretty clear. She is in the same body and retains her bodily continuity. The bigger question is when the memory view is considered as she doesn't remember her own husband. I would say that this still upholds itself even under the memory view because she can remember some version of herself from before she went into the nursing home. She still has a link back to her previous self, meaning there is still a chain of continuous memory even if some important events are forgotten. Just because she forgot one part of her life doesn't mean she can't still have a link of continuous memory. Everyone forgets small parts of their everyday life, but the fact that each of us can remember some version of our precious selves, then we are still the same person. Although there is a clear difference between Fiona forgetting her own husband, I think just the fact that forgetting things doesn't result in us turning into different people. The fact that both the body view is retained and that there is still a link to Fiona's past self means that I would say that she is still the same person.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteIn the 2006 film Away From Her, Grant and Fiona are put in a hard situation of memory loss and identity. I do not think Fiona is the same person after moving into the nursing home. Fiona develops Alzheimer's and voluntarily chooses to leave her husband and move into the facility. Before she moves into the facility, she still remembers most of her memories, but after the 30-day adjustment period, she has forgotten almost all of the memories of her past self and doesn't even remember her own husband. According to the body view, she is technically still the same person because nothing has physically changed her body. Nothing has been done to alter Fiona’s physical appearance, therefore she contains bodily continuity, but I do not think this view proves enough nor is completely reliable when dealing with personal identity. According to the body view, she is the same, but according to the memory view, she is a completely different person. The memory view states that one must have the same memories as another person to be considered the same person. With this in mind, Fiona doesn't share the same memories with her husband Grant anymore because she doesn't remember him. Grant recalls all of their memories together, but Fiona doesn't even remember being married to him. Therefore, Fiona does not comply with the memory view, meaning she is not the same person. Memories play a key role in a person's identity, and when they start forgetting memories, a piece of their identity disappears too.
ReplyDeleteThe 2006 film Away from Her portrayed the story of a retired couple, Grant and Fiona. Fiona suffers from Alzheimer’s, a disease in which one loses their memories, and as the movie goes on, she begins to lose her memories over time. As her condition worsens, she decides to enter a nursing home that has a policy of no visitors for thirty days so residents can become acclimated to the space. At the beginning of her stay, she knew that Grant was her husband, but after the thirty days, she saw him more as a friend. While memory is what shapes identity, Fiona is still the same person despite the lack of some memories. According to the memory view, one must not remember all their memories to be the same person, but rather have an indirect link of memories. While Fiona does not recollect more recent things that happened, she does have a link of memories that connect her to her past self. For example, Fiona was able to introduce her new partner, Aubrey, to Grant. She explained that they knew each other when they were kids, however, they lost contact at some point. If Fiona was someone completely different, she would not have known/remembered this detail about herself. Since Fiona has an indirect link of memories that connect to her current self, she is the same person.
ReplyDeleteThe Case of Grant and Fiona
ReplyDeleteThe case of Grant and Fiona is a story about a man, named Grant, and a woman named Fiona. In the movie, Fiona has worsening Alzheimer’s, so Grant, against his own wishes, has to put Fiona in a mental institution. This mental institution had a policy that stated that no one could visit Fiona after a whole month so that they don’t distract her. But after that month when Grant came to visit her she couldn’t remember who he was. She had lost most of her memories but the ones she did remember didn’t include her memory of Grant. This leads into “The Case of Grant and Fiona”. The case of Grant and Fiona asks since Fiona barely has any of her old memories, is she the same person? This view is the memory view and says that your memories define you and since they do not have the same memories then they are not the same person. Although as we discussed later in class, the memory view also states that as long as there is a connection through remembering your past self, then you are the same person. And this could be extended to remembering someone who remembers another version of yourself even if you can’t remember that second version of yourself. Using this part of the memory view we can say that Fiona is the same person because she still has memories from moments ago, who has memories from moments ago, who has memories from moments ago, and so on for every moment in her life, meaning she is the same person.
I believe that Fiona is the same person in the facility who has forgotten most memories of her past life due to the memory view and the basic understanding of Alzheimer’s disease. The film Away from Her explores the dark reality of what disease can do to someone’s identity, and the negative effect on others around them. Through the lens of the memory view, no matter how much of your memory you lose, as long as some bit remains, you are the same person. This is fully represented with Fiona’s 30-day deterioration of memory and mind. When Grant returns after 30-days, Fiona has seemed to forget that she was ever married to Grant, and has assumed a relationship on Aubrey, a mute man she met at the facility earlier that month. When Grant sat down to talk to Fiona, she talks about her old high school classroom, but doesn’t remember any of the memories with Grant, or a marriage at all. It is still evident that Fiona Is still her same self-prior to her memory deterioration. Fiona has not turned into a zombie, a traffic light, or a toaster, Fiona is still Fiona. Furthermore, the Idea of her Alzheimer’s disease changing weather Fiona is the same person is false. Alzheimer’s being a neurological disease does cause the victim to lose some of their psychological prowess and loss of some basic motor functions. A psychological disease does not lead a person to become a different person, or to have a different personal identity.
ReplyDelete