Three layers of personal identity

The Guiding Concepts of Life Studies

1) Painless civilization
The endless tendency in our civilization to eliminate pain and suffering makes us totally lose sight of the meaning of life that is indispensable to human beings. I called this "painless civilization" in the book Painless Civilization. See section 3.

2) Fundamental sense of security
In the book Life Studies Approaches to Bioethics I presented the idea of "the fundamental sense of security" as a key concept for future life studies.This is "a sense of security with which I can strongly believe that even if I were less intelligent, ugly, or disabled, at least my existence would have been accepted equally to the world, and if I should succeed, fail, or become a doddering old man, my existence will continue to be accepted equally to the world. This is the basis of our life upon which we keep sane in this society" (cited from the book, and this paper). I believe that this is a really important concept in the coming age of new eugenics.

3) The central axis
This concept was introduced in the book Painless Civilization. There are three layers in personal identity, namely, surface identity, deep identity, and the central axis. The central axis is the most basic one, but in everyday life many people forget the layer of the central axis. The central axis is a path by following which I will be able to say, when I die, that I am happy to have been born. One's central axis can be found by dismantling his/her deep identity. This concept is closely connected with that of "life without regret."

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What is Life Studies
(2004)
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