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Personal Identity

Taking Persons Seriously

(Text as at 06/07/2023 00:43:12)

Plug Note¹

• Thesis Text:
  1. Lynne Rudder Baker² accused animalists³ of “not taking persons seriously”. But, how seriously should they be taken (in metaphysics)?
  2. Probably what really matters ontologically⁴ is the possession of a conscious⁵ perspective (though not necessarily – I would claim – a self-conscious⁶ or first-person⁷NP perspective). This is what we must take seriously.
  3. Baker would argue that there exists an ontological difference at this stage too … but, why is the first-person perspective⁸ so very important – all that worrying about death?
  4. Buddhists⁹ are trying to lose this sense of self¹⁰. Do all cultures have this sense?
  5. See "Wong (David) - Relativism" for the traditional Chinese view, which takes the community more seriously than the individual.
  6. Whether we ought to take moral or rational beings extra seriously is the point at issue. Clearly we should. But this doesn’t necessarily have any ontological¹¹ implications (as Baker claims). Certain animals – including (most) humans – just have an extra property that demands they be given extra moral consideration.

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  Further Remarks:
  1. It is difficult to prepare a reading list for this topic, which is touched on – usually parenthetically – in papers dealing with other topics. The lists below are to be treated in that light. Indeed, the only items – apart from "Baker (Lynne Rudder) - In Favour Of the Constitution View", Chapter 9 of "Baker (Lynne Rudder) - Persons and Bodies: A Constitution View" – are the papers in "Baker (Lynne Rudder), Etc. - E-Symposium on 'Persons & Bodies: A Constitution View'", though there are doubtless many other papers by Lynne Rudder Baker that are relevant and which will be picked up as I review them in detail. For now, I seem to have read everything of explicit relevance.

References

• Relevant Works cited above:
  1. "Wong (David) - Relativism", 2000, Write-Up Note¹², Read
• For a page of Links¹³ to this Note, Click here. Unfortunately, for this topic the page is rather diminutive.
• Works on this topic that I’ve actually read¹⁴, include the following:-
  • General:
    1. "Baker (Lynne Rudder) - In Favour Of the Constitution View", 2000, Write-Up Note¹⁵, Internal PDF Link
    2. "Baker (Lynne Rudder) - Persons and Bodies: A Constitution View", 2000, Book
    3. "Baker (Lynne Rudder) - Reply to Garrett", 2001, Write-Up Note¹⁶, Annotations, Internal PDF Link
    4. "Baker (Lynne Rudder), Etc. - E-Symposium on 'Persons & Bodies: A Constitution View'", 2001, Book
    5. "Garrett (Brian) - The Story of I: Some Comments on L.R.Baker 'Persons & Bodies'", 2001, Write-Up Note¹⁷, Annotations
    6. "Noonan (Harold) - Arguments Against Animalism: Comments on L.R.Baker 'Persons & Bodies'", 2001, Write-Up Note¹⁸, Annotations
    7. "Olson (Eric) - Thinking Animals and the Constitution View", 2001, Write-Up Note¹⁹, Annotations, Internal PDF Link
    8. "Wong (David) - Relativism", 2000, Write-Up Note²⁰
• A further reading list might start with:-
  1. No items to list.

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• 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:-
  1. Read: No items to list.
  2. Further Reading: No items to list.
• This is mostly a place-holder²¹.

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Table of the Previous 10 Versions of this Note:

Date	Length	Title
20/09/2022 11:24:00	3027	Taking Persons Seriously
01/05/2022 18:20:10	2646	Taking Persons Seriously
18/02/2021 01:01:55	2451	Taking Persons Seriously
29/05/2020 22:00:29	1980	Taking Persons Seriously
14/07/2019 18:05:46	1803	Taking Persons Seriously
25/05/2018 17:35:31	3914	Taking Persons Seriously
11/03/2018 20:19:41	2418	Taking Persons Seriously
18/12/2010 19:58:05	797	Taking Persons Seriously
26/11/2007 23:25:26	701	Taking Persons Seriously
12/08/2007 10:17:46	699	Taking Persons Seriously

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Note last updated	Reading List for this Topic	Parent Topic
06/07/2023 00:43:12	Taking Persons Seriously	Person

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Summary of Notes Referenced by This Note

Animalists	Awaiting Attention (Personal Identity)	Baker	Baker - In Favour Of the Constitution View	Baker - Persons and Bodies - Response to Garrett
Buddhism	Consciousness	First-Person Perspective	Garrett - Persons and Bodies - Response	Noonan - Persons and Bodies - Response
Note Links Explanation	Olson - Persons and Bodies - Response	Ontology	Plug Note Apologia	Self
Self-Consciousness	Wong - Relativism	Works Read - Explanation

To access information, click on one of the links in the table above.

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Summary of Notes Citing This Note

Animalism - Objections	Baker - In Favour Of the Constitution View, 2	Baker - Persons and Bodies	Garrett - Persons and Bodies - Response, 2, 3, 4, 5	Noonan - Persons and Bodies - Response, 2
Olson - Persons and Bodies - Response, 2	Olson - What Are We? Animals	Olson - What Are We? The Question	PID Note, Book & Paper Usage, 2, 3	Research - Proposal
Thesis - Chapter 03 (What is a Person?), 2, 3, 4, 5	Thesis - Chapter 08 (Arguments against Animalism)	Thesis - Current Stance	Website Generator Documentation - Functors, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

To access information, click on one of the links in the table above.

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Authors, Books & Papers Citing this Note

Author	Title	Medium	Extra Links	Read?
Baker (Lynne Rudder)	In Favour Of the Constitution View	Paper	2	Yes
Garrett (Brian)	The Story of I: Some Comments on L.R.Baker 'Persons & Bodies'	Paper	2, 3, 4, 5	Yes
Noonan (Harold)	Arguments Against Animalism: Comments on L.R.Baker 'Persons & Bodies'	Paper	2	Yes
Olson (Eric)	Persistence	Paper		Yes
Olson (Eric)	Thinking Animals and the Constitution View	Paper	2	Yes
Olson (Eric)	What Are We? Animals	Paper
Olson (Eric)	What Are We? The Question	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Animalism - Objections	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Chapter 03 (What is a Person?)	Paper	2, 3, 4, 5	Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Chapter 08 (Arguments against Animalism)	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Current Position	Paper		Yes

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References & Reading List

Author	Title	Medium	Source	Read?
Baker (Lynne Rudder)	In Favour Of the Constitution View	Paper - Cited	Baker (Lynne) - Persons and Bodies, Chapter 9, pp. 213-229	Yes
Baker (Lynne Rudder)	Persons and Bodies: A Constitution View	Book - Cited	Baker (Lynne Rudder) - Persons and Bodies: A Constitution View	Yes
Baker (Lynne Rudder)	Reply to Garrett	Paper - Cited	Field Guide to the Philosophy of Mind, 2001, e-Symposium on "Persons & Bodies: A Constitution View"	Yes
Baker (Lynne Rudder), Etc.	E-Symposium on 'Persons & Bodies: A Constitution View'	Book - Cited	Baker (Lynne Rudder), Etc. - E-Symposium on 'Persons & Bodies: A Constitution View'	Yes
Garrett (Brian)	The Story of I: Some Comments on L.R.Baker 'Persons & Bodies'	Paper - Cited	Field Guide to the Philosophy of Mind, 2001, e-Symposium on "Persons & Bodies: A Constitution View"	Yes
Olson (Eric)	What are We? A Study of Personal Ontology	Book - Referencing (via Paper Referencing)	Bibliographical details to be supplied	99%
Olson (Eric)	What Are We? Animals	Paper - Referencing	What Are We? A Study in Personal Ontology, Chapter 2 (November 2007: Oxford University Press.)	81%
Olson (Eric)	What Are We? The Question	Paper - Referencing	What Are We? A Study in Personal Ontology, Chapter 1 (November 2007: Oxford University Press.)	Yes
Singer (Peter), Ed.	A Companion to Ethics	Book - Cited (via Paper Cited)	Bibliographical details to be supplied	4%
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Taking Persons Seriously	Paper - By Subtopic		Yes
Wong (David)	Relativism	Paper - Cited	Singer - A Companion to Ethics	Yes

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Text Colour Conventions

1. Blue: Text by me; © Theo Todman, 2023

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