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Good point, gorpa, but I think your example is flawed. 'Physical Incapacitation' is not the destruction of the body; presumably, this person's grandmother still has *some* bodily functioning, even if it is severely restricted or even if it can only be accomplished with the aid of a machine.
Moreover, traditional dualisms (of the Cartesian variety) don't have this problem, since they don't rely on both the body and mind to achieve self -- only the soul is the self. (The picture is more complicated on the Aristolean/Thomistic view). It's only more sophisticated dualisms, that would have your problem.
And I don't see why that's not a bullet that can't be bitten. I have no problem saying that the self cannot be preserved without the body. There's a *reason* Christianity teaches the resurrection of the body, and not some eternal disincarnate existence.
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"Die Deutschen meinen, daß die Kraft sich in Härte und Grausamkeit offenbaren müsse, sie unterwerfen sich dann gerne und mit Bewunderung:[...]. Daß es Kraft giebt in der Milde und Stille, das glauben sie nicht leicht."
"The Germans believe that power must reveal itself in hardness and cruelty and then submit themselves gladly and with admiration[...]. They do not believe readily that there is power in meekness and calm."
-- Friedrich Nietzsche
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