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Passage: John Locke’s criterion for personal identity rests firmly upon the continuity of consciousness, primarily through the faculty of memory. For Locke, a person is a 'thinking intelligent being, that has reason and reflection, and can consider itself as itself, the same thinking thing, in different times and places.' Crucially, identity does not reside in the persistence of a physical substance or a metaphysical soul, but in the reach of one’s consciousness. If a man’s consciousness can extend back to a past action, he is the same person who performed that action. This leads to the startling conclusion that if the soul of a prince, carrying the consciousness of the prince’s past life, were to enter the body of a cobbler, the resulting being would be the prince, not the cobbler. The body is merely a container; the self is the memory. Locke defines a 'person' as a being characterized by:

1. The immutable nature of the physical body and its unique biological signature.
2. A soul that remains tethered to a single, specific occupation or social status.
3. The biological survival of the organism through various environmental changes.
4. The ability to reflect upon itself as a persistent entity across time.

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