- This pseudo-Paper is intended as the mechanism to record time spent on the Note 'Convention1' during my Thesis research, as from 2011.
- For the actual time recorded, click on "Paper Statistics" above.
Write-up2 (as at 07/02/2018 09:57:36): Convention
Plug Note3- This Note will cover whether it is ever right to say that whether a thing persists or not is merely a matter of convention.
- Because of the existence of a First Person Perspective4, it seems difficult to imagine in the case of persons, but it may be true of artefacts5.
- Issues arise with Thought Experiments6 that stretch the boundaries of our Concepts7, so that it might be argued that it is arbitrary whether an individual survives the vicissitude (maybe inadequately) described in the TE.
- But, it might be argued, individuals falling under a Natural Kind8 concept persist or fail to do so irrespective of us, our language and our concepts.
- If personhood is an honorific, rather than a natural kind concept, then whether an individual persists as a person might indeed be conventional – depending on our concept person.
- But whether an individual persists as an animal9 is not a matter of convention, though it might be subject to epistemological vagueness10.
- Works on this topic that I’ve actually read11, include12 the following:-
- Nothing, apparently!
- A reading list might start with:-
- "Braddon-Mitchell (David) & Miller (Kristie) - How To Be A Conventional Person", Braddon-Mitchell & Miller
- "Hawthorne (John) - Plenitude, Convention, and Ontology", Hawthorne
- "Heller (Mark) - Conventional Objects", Hudson
- "Lewis (David) - Convention", Lewis
- "Miller (Kristie) - 'Personal identity' minus the persons", Miller
- "Sidelle (Alan) - Realism and Conventionalism", Sidelle
- "Sidelle (Alan) - How to be a Modern-Day Conventionalist", Sidelle
- "Sidelle (Alan) - Is it Possible to be a Modern-Day Conventionalist? Or, Responding to Some Technical Worries", Sidelle
- "Sidelle (Alan) - The Case for Conventionalism and the Problem with Real Necessity", Sidelle
- "Taliaferro (Charles) - Pollock's Body-Switching", Taliaferro
- This is mostly a place-holder13. Currently, just see the categorised reading-list.
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 (07/02/2018 09:57:36).
- 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 11: - 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 12: - 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