I think the dichotomy is false rendering the question somewhat meaningless. It's another nature vs. nurture argument. My opinion, I think shared by many, is that we are measures of both each contributing to varying degrees that change depending on the situation or idea considered. I don't have a problem in using the concept of values in an attempt to perhaps seek out which one might be dominant in any given context, but I think identifying one or the other as the 'true' self is convoluted and misleading.
I believe that my experiences in life play a significant role in defining who I am if I define self as simply a collection of my mental states and have no problem concluding that had I had different experiences I could very well be different in many ways. The problem with this definition of self is that if we compare our collection of mental states now to the collection of mental states when we are five we get two very different selves. It's intuitively absurd. That five year old was me too, I've clearly just added more experiences/mental states to the collection.
As touched on before, the content of the mental states is a combination of nature and nurture. I think a more accurate description of self would also include 'that which has privileged access to the mental states'. That stays consistent over time for any of us while our mental states continue to change.
I believe that my experiences in life play a significant role in defining who I am if I define self as simply a collection of my mental states and have no problem concluding that had I had different experiences I could very well be different in many ways. The problem with this definition of self is that if we compare our collection of mental states now to the collection of mental states when we are five we get two very different selves. It's intuitively absurd. That five year old was me too, I've clearly just added more experiences/mental states to the collection.
As touched on before, the content of the mental states is a combination of nature and nurture. I think a more accurate description of self would also include 'that which has privileged access to the mental states'. That stays consistent over time for any of us while our mental states continue to change.