What are the differences between Open, Closed, and Empty Individualism?
Open, Closed, and Empty Individualism are philosophical positions concerning the nature of personal identity over time, particularly how we consider the existence and persistence of "self."
Closed Individualism posits that individuals are distinct and separable entities that persist over time.
This view is the most common intuition about personal identity: that each person is a separate individual with a unique and continuous identity from birth to death.
Open Individualism argues that there is only one subject of experience, one "I," who is everyone.
According to this view, the boundaries between individuals are illusory, and the consciousness experiencing life through one person is the same consciousness experiencing life through all others.
This philosophy transcends traditional notions of personal identity, suggesting a universal connectedness.
Empty Individualism takes a different approach, asserting that the self is an illusion and there is no real persistence of identity over time, even within a single person's life.
From moment to moment, there is no enduring self that continues from the past through to the future. Each moment is its own experience, with no actual "individual" that persists across these moments.
