An Epistemic Component to Personal Identity: the Case of Religious Conversion

Under what conditions is a person a at time t the
same person as a person b at a later time t"? This is the
problem of personal identity over time. In this paper, I wish
to argue that there is a necessary (though not sufficient)
epistemic condition for identity. I will explain this condition
and offer some support for it. I will then discuss a case -
religious conversion - where it is arguable both that the
necessary condition fails to obtain and that there is a
failure of identity. If the case displays a fruitful co-incidence
between these two failures, that will be some evidence in
favor of my necessary condition.