ABSTRACT
Locke's famous account of personal identity explores the conditions for counting a person the same person, over time. He contrasts two main views on the subject, which are 'Same Substance' and 'Same Consciousness' accounts. Locke's appeal to same consciousness is meant to explain the conditions under which we take ourselves to be the same with some earlier person. Locke typically reserves the term consciousness for cases involving reflective awareness. Metaphysical interpretation; Locke aims to clarify the conditions under which some earlier and later persons are numerically the same person. Epistemic interpretation; Locke aims to clarify the conditions under which people judge ourselves to be numerically the same with some earlier person. An epistemic interpretation allows us to take Locke's statements about non-veridical memory at face value, and without saddling him with a glaring philosophical mistake.
