Does a "True Self" Exist?

[Salacious B. Crumb]

Firt time post.

Hi all!

Ok. if the true self is either your beliefs and your critical thinking AND/OR your emotions and desires does that mean that a clone with either your beliefs and your critical thinking AND/OR your emotions and desires would also be your true self?

I’m going to say that that’s not possible, but, because I don’t like those shitty, dodging type of answers, I’ll try to respond. Maybe, in theory, if the person had the exact critical thinking skills and beliefs as the other, was attached at the hip to the other, kept awake/alive at the exact instances of both of their lives, did/watched/experienced the exact same things at the same time, then I feel they would both be a copy of each other. However, I’m going to say, “No”, because even if what you are saying is true, as others have pointed out (including myself), I feel a potential ‘true self’ would consist of free will, our experiences, and what we’re exposed to on a daily basis. People, even with the exact same thought processes, will not be exposed to the exact same situations in their lives, and I feel that they will look at the world in a different way. I don’t feel identical twins can possibly have the same true self, because they are not living the exact same type of life, with the same type of experiences.