Transformative changes of self happen. They can be chosen or unchosen, wanted or unwanted, good or bad. They can occur as part of ordinary life transitions, as when one becomes a parent, marries, emigrates, or divorces, and they can occur in extraordinary circumstances, such as when one experiences a war, a serious physical accident, an invasive neurosurgical procedure, or cognitive change due to dementia. This lecture will develop a conceptual framework for these kinds of changes and explore some of their implications, including implications for how we model certain kinds of causation, counterfactuals, and endogenous preference change over time.

Laurie Ann Paul is the Millstone Family Professor of Philosophy and Professor of Cognitive Science at Yale University. Her research explores questions about the nature of the self, decision-making, temporal experience, philosophical methodology, causation, causal experience, time and time’s arrow, perception, mereology, constitution, and essence.