What is the nature of Reality?

You and your best friend are planning a trip to China. At the airport, the ticket agent says “Congratulations! We are upgrading you to Teleportation Class. Just step into this black box, and you will step out the other side in Beijing!” You are a little worried about this new technology. “How does it work?” you ask. “It’s simple. The box scans your body, makes a blueprint, then disintegrates you into atoms. The atoms are transmitted at half the speed of light to a box in Beijing, where you are reassembled. It happens so fast, you don’t feel a thing! Watch!”

The ticket agent steps into the box. A few seconds later, she steps back out, holding a pair of chopsticks. “There’s a great little snack shop just on the other side. I eat lunch there twice a week!” “But…you were just destroyed – completely disintegrated into atoms! You’re just a copy of the ticket agent!” “Relax.”, your best friend says. “Remember that great little Chinese restaurant in San Franciso? The one our ticket agent likes is even better!” Your friend hands you a potsticker. “I stepped through the box. They were giving out free samples.”

An example Metaphysical question: What is a person? Do persons persist through time? Are you the same person who had your name in kindergarten? If persons do persist, what is it about them that persists? Body? Brain? Consciousness? Soul? How would we apply this to the teleportation case? What evidence would show that the required persistence either is or is not present in this case?

A person is a collection of mental states: sensory perceptions and sensations, beliefs, expectations, fears and desires. You are the same person as the one who had your name in kindergarten if your current collection of mental states evolved in some coherent way from the child’s collection.

A person is something that exists independently of mental states, and which has them. Mental states come and go – the underlying entity which has the mental states remains the same. Mental states are electromagnetic brain impulses. A person is the brain which makes mental states possible. You are the same person as the one who had your name in kindergarten if your current brain evolved in some coherent way from the brain belonging to that person.

A person is something that has mental states. Mental states come and go – the underlying entity which has the mental states remains the same. Mental states occur in minds. A person is a mind, which is an immaterial substance underlying changing mental states. You are the same person as the one who had your name in kindergarten if you share the same underlying mental substance.

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