Theo Todman's Web Page - Notes Pages
Personal Identity
Physical Continuity
(Text as at 06/07/2023 00:43:12)
Plug Note1
- Thesis Text:
- In addition to considering just what causal2 conditions a physical object needs to satisfy in order to persist3, I need to consider continuity and contiguity requirements.
- It is not normally supposed that a physical object can continue to exist if it ceases to be a contiguous whole – if its parts become spatially scattered.
- Nor does it persist if there is no continuous spacetime path between the location of the object at one time and the location of its supposed continuant at another.
- These requirements raise a couple of issues:
- Intermittent Objects4: can things go in and out of existence? Does the disassembled bicycle still exist5 in a dispersed state?
- Mereology6: is the content of any region of spacetime – whether spatially or temporally contiguous or disconnected – a thing?
- What do decisions here have to say about the possibility of resurrection or reincarnation? Is a physicalist7 able, even in principle, to allow the possibility of disembodied existence8, resurrection9 or reincarnation10, given the need for a continuing physical substance11 to which the individual is identical? This is an especially pressing issue for animalists12.
- Some Christians are physicalists13, and Peter Van Inwagen has (as a wild speculation - see "Van Inwagen (Peter) - The Possibility of Resurrection") God miraculously swapping out and preserving our corpses so he can resurrect the same individuals in due course.
- Failure of physical contiguity for an individual arises in cases such as that imagined in "Dennett (Daniel) - Where Am I?".
- Another case in point is that of Teletransportation14.
- I need to consider (but expect to reject) such suggestions that beings such as we15 can survive such radical physical discontinuity.
References
- Relevant Works cited above:
- "Dennett (Daniel) - Where Am I?", 1997, Annotations, External Link, Internal PDF Link, Read
- "Van Inwagen (Peter) - The Possibility of Resurrection", 1978, Annotations, External Link, Internal PDF Link, Read = 111%
- For a Page of Links16 to this Note, Click here.
- Works on this topic that I’ve actually read17, include the following:-
- Aeon:
- "Aeon - Video - Danielle", 2014, External Link
- General:
- "Dennett (Daniel) - Where Am I?", 1997, Annotations, External Link, Internal PDF Link
- "Johnston (Mark) - Human Beings", 1987, Write-Up Note18, Annotations, Internal PDF Link
- "Liao (S. Matthew) - The Organism View Defended", 2006, Annotations, Internal PDF Link
- "Unger (Peter) - Precis of 'Identity, Consciousness and Value'", 1992, Internal PDF Link
- "Unger (Peter) - The Physical Approach To Our Survival", 1992
- "Wiggins (David) - Identity & Spatio-temporal Continuity: Introduction", 1967
- "Wiggins (David) - Preface: Sameness and Substance Renewed", 2001, Annotations
- A further reading list might start with:-
- General:
- "Berglund (Stefan) - The Importance of Identity", 1995
- "Bermudez (Jose Luis) - The Moral Significance of Birth", 1996, Internal PDF Link, Read = 7%
- "Dennett (Daniel) - Reflections on Dennett's 'Where Am I?'", 1981, External Link, Internal PDF Link, Read = 67%
- "Martin (Raymond) - Memory, Connecting and What Matters In Survival", 1987
- "Van Inwagen (Peter) - The Possibility of Resurrection", 1978, Annotations, External Link, Internal PDF Link, Read = 111%
- "Wiggins (David) - Identity & Spatio-temporal Continuity", 1967, Book, Read = 5%
- For a list of Works that have been considered, but have missed the cut for inclusion in this Section of my Thesis, see the following:-
- Read: No items to list.
- Further Reading: No items to list.
- This is mostly a place-holder19.
Table of the Previous 11 Versions of this Note:
Summary of Notes Referenced by This Note
To access information, click on one of the links in the table above.
Summary of Notes Citing This Note
Bodily Continuity |
Body |
Continuity |
Duplication |
Intermittent Objects |
Olson - What Are We? The Question |
Physicalism |
PID Note, Book & Paper Usage, 2, 3 |
Research - Proposal |
Resurrection |
Resurrection (Metaphysics). T1 |
Teletransportation |
Thesis - Chapter 02 (What are We?), 2 |
Thesis - Chapter 04 (Basic Metaphysical Issues) |
Thesis - Chapter 05 (Persistence and Time), 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 |
Thesis - Chapter 10 (Thought Experiments), 2 |
Thesis - Chapter 11 (Resurrection) |
Thesis - Current Stance |
Thesis - Personal Identity, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 |
Website Generator Documentation - Functors, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 |
To access information, click on one of the links in the table above.
Authors, Books & Papers Citing this Note
Author |
Title |
Medium |
Extra Links |
Read? |
Agar (Nicholas) |
Functionalism and Personal Identity |
Paper  |
2 |
|
Berglund (Stefan) |
The Importance of Identity |
Paper  |
|
|
Bermudez (Jose Luis) |
The Moral Significance of Birth |
Paper  |
2 |
|
Clark (Andy) & Kuhn (Robert Lawrence) |
Aeon: Video - Andy Clark - Virtual immortality |
Paper  |
|
Yes |
Gale (Richard) |
On Some Pernicious Thought-Experiments |
Paper  |
|
Yes |
Gasser (Georg) |
Personal Identity and Resurrection: Introduction |
Paper  |
|
Yes |
Liao (S. Matthew) |
The Organism View Defended |
Paper  |
2 |
Yes |
Martin (Raymond) |
Memory, Connecting and What Matters In Survival |
Paper  |
|
|
Olson (Eric) |
Psychology and Personal Identity |
Paper  |
2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 |
Yes |
Olson (Eric) |
The Human Animal: Introduction |
Paper  |
2 |
Yes |
Olson (Eric) |
What Are We? The Question |
Paper  |
|
Yes |
Olson (Eric) |
Why We Need Not Accept the Psychological Approach |
Paper  |
|
Yes |
Schechtman (Marya) |
Personality and Persistence: The Many Faces of Personal Survival |
Paper  |
2 |
|
Shoemaker (David) |
Personal Identity, Rational Anticipation, and Self-Concern |
Paper  |
|
Yes |
Shoemaker (Sydney) |
Persons and Personal Identity |
Paper  |
|
Yes |
Todman (Theo) |
Thesis - Bodily Continuity |
Paper  |
|
Yes |
Todman (Theo) |
Thesis - Body |
Paper  |
|
Yes |
Todman (Theo) |
Thesis - Chapter 02 (What Are We?) |
Paper  |
2 |
Yes |
Todman (Theo) |
Thesis - Chapter 04 (Basic Metaphysical Issues) |
Paper  |
|
Yes |
Todman (Theo) |
Thesis - Chapter 05 (Persistence and Time) |
Paper  |
2, 3, 4, 5, 6 |
Yes |
Todman (Theo) |
Thesis - Chapter 10 (Thought Experiments) |
Paper  |
2 |
Yes |
Todman (Theo) |
Thesis - Chapter 11 (Resurrection) |
Paper  |
|
Yes |
Todman (Theo) |
Thesis - Continuity |
Paper  |
|
Yes |
Todman (Theo) |
Thesis - Current Position |
Paper  |
|
Yes |
Todman (Theo) |
Thesis - Duplication |
Paper  |
|
Yes |
Todman (Theo) |
Thesis - Intermittent Objects |
Paper  |
|
Yes |
Todman (Theo) |
Thesis - Personal Identity |
Paper  |
2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 |
|
Todman (Theo) |
Thesis - Physicalism |
Paper  |
|
Yes |
Todman (Theo) |
Thesis - Resurrection |
Paper  |
|
Yes |
Todman (Theo) |
Thesis - Teletransportation |
Paper  |
|
Yes |
Unger (Peter) |
Investigating Our Beliefs About Ourselves |
Paper  |
|
Yes |
Unger (Peter) |
Precis of 'Identity, Consciousness and Value' |
Paper  |
|
Yes |
Unger (Peter) |
The Physical Approach To Our Survival |
Paper  |
2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 |
Yes |
Wiggins (David) |
Preface: Sameness and Substance Renewed |
Paper  |
|
Yes |
References & Reading List
Author |
Title |
Medium |
Source |
Read? |
Aeon |
Video - Danielle |
Paper - Cited  |
Aeon, 16 July 2014 |
Yes |
Berglund (Stefan) |
Human and Personal Identity |
Book - Cited (via Paper Cited)  |
Bibliographical details to be supplied |
1% |
Berglund (Stefan) |
The Importance of Identity |
Paper - Cited  |
Berglund - Human and Personal Identity (PhD Dissertation, Lund University), Chapter 7, 1995, pp. 159-186 |
No |
Bermudez (Jose Luis) |
The Moral Significance of Birth |
Paper - By Subtopic  |
Ethics, 106, No. 2, Jan., 1996, pp. 378-403 |
7% |
Brody (Baruch) |
Identity and Essence |
Book - By Subtopic (via Paper By Subtopic)  |
Brody (Baruch) - Identity and Essence |
No |
Brody (Baruch) |
Implications |
Paper - By Subtopic  |
Brody - Identity and Essence, 1980, Chapter 3 |
No |
Coburn (Robert) |
Identity and Spatio-Temporal Continuity |
Paper - By Subtopic |
Munitz - Identity and Individuation, 1971, pp. 51-102 |
No |
Dennett (Daniel) |
Brainstorms - Philosophical Essays on Mind and Psychology |
Book - Cited (via Paper Cited)  |
Bibliographical details to be supplied |
43% |
Dennett (Daniel) |
Where Am I? |
Paper - Cited  |
Dennett - Brainstorms - Philosophical Essays on Mind and Psychology, Chapter 17, 1978 |
Yes |
Johnston (Mark) |
Human Beings |
Paper - Cited  |
Journal of Philosophy, Volume 84, Issue 2 (Feb 1987), 59-83 |
Yes |
Kagan (Shelly) |
Death |
Book - By Subtopic (via Paper By Subtopic)  |
Kagan (Shelly) - Death |
Yes |
Kagan (Shelly) |
Personal identity, Part II: The body theory and the personality theory |
Paper - By Subtopic  |
Open Yale Courses, 2007 |
Yes |
Merricks (Trenton) |
Against the Doctrine of Microphysical Supervenience |
Paper - By Subtopic  |
Mind - 107/425 (January 1998) |
Yes |
Sainsbury (Mark), Ed. |
Mind - 107/425 (January 1998) |
Book - By Subtopic (via Paper By Subtopic) |
Sainsbury (Mark), Ed. - Mind - 107/425 (January 1998) |
10% |
Strong (C.A.) |
Final Observations |
Paper - By Subtopic |
The Journal of Philosophy, Vol. 38, No. 9. (Apr. 24, 1941), pp. 233-243 |
No |
Todman (Theo) |
Thesis - Physical Continuity |
Paper - By Subtopic  |
|
Yes |
Van Inwagen (Peter) |
The Possibility of Resurrection |
Paper - Cited  |
The International Journal for Philosophy of Religion, Volume 9, 1978 |
56% |
Wiggins (David) |
Identity & Spatio-temporal Continuity |
Book - Cited  |
Wiggins (David) - Identity & Spatio-temporal Continuity |
5% |
Wiggins (David) |
Identity & Spatio-temporal Continuity: Introduction |
Paper - By Subtopic  |
Wiggins - Identity & Spatio-temporal Continuity, 1967, pp. vii-viii |
Yes |
Wiggins (David) |
Identity & Spatio-temporal Continuity: Notes |
Paper - By Subtopic |
Wiggins - Identity & Spatio-temporal Continuity, 1967, pp. 65-78 |
No |
Wiggins (David) |
Identity & Spatio-temporal Continuity: Part 4: Self, Body and Spatio-Temporal Continuity |
Paper - By Subtopic |
Wiggins - Identity & Spatio-temporal Continuity, 1967, pp. 43-58 |
No |
Text Colour Conventions
- Blue: Text by me; © Theo Todman, 2025