Michaels teaches philosophy at Smith College. She focuses her work on issues dealing with reproductive ethics and feminist epistemology. Her piece, Persons, Brains, and Bodies, discusses Locke's memory theory and the Aristotelian position. .
Michaels used a story of two people being in an accident, one person you and the other person named Wanda. Wanda is crushed by a steam roller, however, her brain survives. You, have a stroke that causes brain damage. The result is Wanda's brain being put into your head and the new name is Schwanda. She asks, "Who would you be?" Would you think as Wanda? Would you be the same person you always were?.
The author evaluates the views of both Locke and Aristotle. With Locke's point of view one believes that "a person goes wherever her brain goes" (323), on the assumption that our mental uniqueness is more prone to be located in the brain than in one's fingernail. Therefore, Schwanda will believe that she is Wanda. But, the fact that Schwanda believes she is Wanda does not mean that she is. According to Michaels in trying to determine whether or not Schwanda's memories are authentic Wanda memories "we cannot argue that they are genuine on the grounds that Schwanda is Wanda" (324). Conversely, with the Aristotelian position that "self identity is essentially bodily identity" (324), one has the thought that what you identify your body as you are. Michaels stipulates that if the body theory of personal identity is true the then person in the hospital bed is you mislead into thinking you are Wanda. Therefore, "Schwanda is self identical to you" (324). .
With this Meredith Michaels was trying to demonstrate that our bodies are significant to self identity. She concluded that it is true that we recognize ourselves by our beliefs, thoughts, and feelings. By discussing the body theory she pointed out that there are reasons for believing that our bodies are important to whom we are.
