MULTIPLE PERSONALITY, IDENTITY, AND SURVIVAL - AN EXAMINATION OF BRAUDE,STEPHEN,E. 1ST-PERSON-PLURAL

Early psychical research was marked by an interest in hypnosis, in who se history, Braude says, there were developments that facilitated the recognition of multiple personality. Several philosophers concerned wi th psychical research have written about multiple personality, includi ng Broad, who regards it as abnormal rather than paranormal. The work of some of them is briefly described, and Parfit's work, also, is ment ioned. Braude is the most recent philosopher with a professional inter est in psychical research to write on multiple personality, and his 19 91 First Person Plural, a book devoted entirely to the topic, is expla ined at length. Particular attention is paid to Braude's account of pe rsons; his concepts of apperceptive center, indexical state, and autob iographical state; the relation between multiplicity and mediumship; a nd his argument that in those with multiple personality disorder, a de ep unity is a precondition for the multiplicity.