ABSTRACT
In everyday life the continuation of a single human being and of a psychological life usually coincide. Psychological continuity theorists seek to define personal identity not in terms of the continuity of an immaterial substance, but directly in terms of psychological relations. Psychological theorists question why memory should be the only psychological connection relevant to constituting personal identity. The psychological approach is not, of course, the only possible approach to questions of personal identity. The emergence of the biological approach as a powerful competitor to psychological views has, however, added an important dimension to the debate on personal identity, raising fruitful questions that have been largely neglected. Theorists of practical identity engage in discussions of personal identity and its relation to autonomy in work on practical reasoning. One theme that runs through almost every aspect of work on personal identity is the need to understand the connection between practical and metaphysical questions of personal identity.
