- This pseudo-Paper is intended as the mechanism to record time spent on the Note 'Animalism - Objections1' during my Thesis research, as from 2011.
- For the actual time recorded, click on "Paper Summary" above.
Write-up2 (as at 29/04/2018 11:02:24): Animalism - Objections
Plug Note3- A convenient starting-point for reviewing objections to Animalism is in "Olson (Eric), Etc. - Abstracta Special Issue on 'The Human Animal'" (2008), reviewed in this Note4.
- The most obvious objection is to the initial implausibility of Animalism’s basic contention that – because I was once a fetus5 and may one day be a vegetable6 – psychological continuity or connectedness7 can have nothing to do with my persistence criteria. Animalists can be accused of not taking persons sufficiently seriously8.
- Additionally, Animalists are said to have a “corpse problem9”. Because I am co-located with my “corpse-to-be”, the Animalist is hoist by his own petard, in that he has the analogue of the “fetus problem10” he alleges against the Constitution View11.
- A spin-off from the alleged irrelevancy of psychology for human identity is the need to deny the Brain Transplant12 intuition – that “I go where my brain goes”. The Transplant Intuition has been defended from an animalist perspective in "Madden (Rory) - Human Persistence" (2016)
- Olson mentions four “favourites13” in "Olson (Eric) - Human Atoms", namely:-
- If you were an animal, you would be identical with your body (or at any rate with some human body). But no human body can think or feel or act, as you can.
- Persons and animals have different persistence conditions: the organism that is your body could outlive you (if you lapsed into a persistent vegetative state), or you could outlive it (if your brain were transplanted and the rest of you destroyed). But a thing cannot outlive itself.
- Persons and animals have different criteria of synchronic identity: any human animal could be associated with two different persons at once (as cases of split personality). Thus, no person is an animal.
- These experiences – the ones I am having now – are essentially mine. But they are only contingently associated with any particular animal. Hence, I have a property that no animal has.
- The above paper is intended, however, to rebut Lowe’s argument against animalism, which has the consequence that we are “mereological atoms”.
- Hud Hudson argues against animalism via the “Elimination Argument”, which I’m yet to investigate and understand. Andrew M. Bailey seeks to rebuff it.
- Works on this topic that I’ve actually read14, include15 the following:-
- "Baker (Lynne Rudder) - Big-Tent Metaphysics", Baker, 2008
→ "Baker (Lynne Rudder) - Response to Eric Olson", Baker, 2008 - "Baker (Lynne Rudder) - Review of 'What Are We? A Study in Personal Ontology' by Eric T. Olson", Baker
- "Baker (Lynne Rudder) - When Do Persons Begin and End?", Baker
- "Blatti (Stephan), Ed. - The Lives of Human Animals", Blatti
- "Blatti (Stephan) - Animalism (SEP)", Blatti
- "Garrett (Brian) - Animalism and Reductionism", Garrett
- "Madden (Rory) - Thinking Parts", Madden
- "Markosian (Ned) - Three Problems for Olson's Account of Personal Identity", Markosian, 2008
- "Marshall (Richard) & Olson (Eric) - Eric T. Olson: The Philosopher with No Hands", Marshall & Olson
- "Noonan (Harold) - Animalism Versus Lockeanism: A Current Controversy", Noonan, 1998
- "Noonan (Harold) - Arguments Against Animalism: Comments on L.R.Baker 'Persons & Bodies'", Noonan, 2001
- "Noonan (Harold) - Animalism versus Lockeanism: Reply to Mackie", Noonan, 2001
- "Olson (Eric) - Animalism and the Corpse Problem", Olson, 2004
- "Olson (Eric) - Animalism and the Remnant-Person Problem", Olson, 2016
- "Olson (Eric) - Replies to Baker, Markosian & Zimmerman", Olson, 2008
- "Snowdon (Paul) - Some Objections to Animalism", Snowdon
- "Snowdon (Paul) - The Self and Personal Identity", Snowdon
- "Zimmerman (Dean) - Problems for Animalism", Zimmerman, 2008
- A reading list (where not covered elsewhere) might start with:-
- "Blatti (Stephan) & Snowdon (Paul), Eds - Animalism: Introduction", Blatti & Snowdon
- "Hudson (Hud) - I am Not an Animal!", Hudson
→ "Bailey (Andrew M.) - The Elimination Argument", - "Lowe (E.J.) - Subjects of Experience", Lowe
- "Moran (Alexander P.) - Animalism and the Thinking Parts Problem", Moran, 2016
- "Olson (Eric) - Human Atoms", Olson
- "Olson (Eric) - The Remnant-Person Problem", Olson, 2016
- "Olson (Eric) - What Are We? Animals", Olson
- "Olson (Eric) - What Are We? Brains", Olson
- "Olson (Eric) - What Are We? What Now?", Olson
- "Petrus (Klaus), Ed. - On Human Persons", Petrus
→ "Puhl (Klaus) - Review of Klaus Petrus's 'On Human Persons'", Puhl - "Reid (Mark D.) - A Case in Which Two Persons Exist in One Animal", Reid
- "Shoemaker (David) - The Stony Metaphysical Heart of Animalism", Shoemaker
- "Snowdon (Paul) - Animalism and the Unity of Consciousness", Snowdon
- "Snowdon (Paul) - Multiple Personality Disorder", Snowdon
- "Toner (Patrick) - Hylemorphic animalism", Toner
- This is mostly a place-holder16.
In-Page Footnotes
Footnote 2: - This is the write-up as it was when this Abstract was last output, with text as at the timestamp indicated (29/04/2018 11:02:24).
- Link to Latest Write-Up Note.
Footnote 3: - A number of my philosophical Notes are “promissory notes” currently only listing the books and papers (if any) I possess on the topic concerned.
- I’ve decided to add some text – whether by way of motivation, or something more substantive – for all these identified topics related to my Thesis.
- As I want to do this fairly quickly, the text may be confused or show surprising ignorance.
- The reader (if such exists) will have to bear with me, and display the principle of charity while this footnote exists.
Footnote 13: - These strike me as rather feeble, and I suspect them of being straw men.
Footnote 14: - Frequently I’ll have made copious marginal annotations, and sometimes have written up a review-note.
- In the former case, I intend to transfer the annotations into electronic form as soon as I can find the time.
- In the latter case, I will have remarked on the fact against the citation, and will integrate the comments into this Note in due course.
- My intention is to incorporate into these Notes comments on material I’ve already read rather than engage with unread material at this stage.
Footnote 15: - I may have read others in between updates of this Note – in which case they will be marked as such in the “References and Reading List” below.
- Papers or Books partially read have a rough %age based on the time spent versus the time expected.
Text Colour Conventions (see disclaimer)
- Blue: Text by me; © Theo Todman, 2018
- Mauve: Text by correspondent(s) or other author(s); © the author(s)