Summary: | The aim of this work is to examine how physical and mental metamorphoses affect the perception of the self. To do this I study the literary characters Apollo (The Hidden Oracle, by Rick Riordan) and Edward Cullen (Midnight Sun, by Stephenie Meyer), both of whom experience these different kinds of metamorphoses. I approach this problem with the help of philosophy of mind and, more specifically, the mind-body problem as well as the problem of personal identity. Amongst other things, I find that the physical metamorphoses are what enable and initiate the mental ones. I also discover that one of the biggest impacts on personal identity and the self comes from whether the characters are immortal or not.
|