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Personal Identity

Phase Sortals

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

Plug Note¹

• Thesis Text:
  1. I may have misappropriated this term. In its standard usage (I am told), a phase sortal is a biologically-motivated term. The clearest examples are of individuals that metamorphose²; for example the butterfly: egg → larva (caterpillar) → pupa (chrysalis) → adult (butterfly). The caterpillar is a phase sortal of the organism, with clear spatio-temporal boundaries. My standard example is of Child, which is a (vaguely³-boundaried) biological phase of the substance sortal Human Being⁴.
  2. An example of a possible human phase sortal that is a non-person⁵ is Infant. This example might be especially relevant to the topic, because “infant” is derived from the Latin in-fans “without speech”, and the capacity for speech is often claimed to be an essential prerequisite for being a person⁶.
  3. Any suggestion that the concept Person⁷ is “no more than” a phase sortal of an umbrella concept isn’t intended to imply unimportance. Rather, simply that persons might not form a kind⁸ (and in particular a natural kind⁹), nor be substances¹⁰, but that personhood might be a property¹¹ of substances (of animals¹², for instance).
  4. What about “periodic” phase sortals such as Student? A human being can “pop in and out of” studenthood by registering or deregistering, but he can’t do this with childhood. Which model suits personhood? See the discussion of intermittent objects¹³.
  5. However, if the above suggestion that the concept Phase Sortal is biologically motivated is correct, a purely social concept such as Student is not a phase sortal in this sense, and Person might not be either. I could, of course, invent a new term of art.
  6. All roads seem to lead to Wiggins¹⁴ (Paul Snowdon refers to him a lot in the context of Animalism¹⁵, though I seem to remember that Eric Olson thinks Wiggins isn’t a true Animalist, but a supporter of the psychological view¹⁶).

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  Further Remarks:
  1. See under Sortals¹⁷ for the introduction of the concept ‘Phase Sortal’.

References

• Relevant Works cited above: No items to list.
• For a Page of Links¹⁸ to this Note, Click here.
• Works on this topic that I’ve actually read¹⁹, include the following:-
  • General:
    1. "Baker (Lynne Rudder) - When Do Persons Begin and End?", 2005, Annotations, External Link, Internal PDF Link
    2. "Garrett (Brian) - Animalism and Reductionism", 1998, Annotations
    3. "Hershenov (David) - Review of Nancey Murphy's 'Bodies and Souls, or Spirited Bodies?'", 2007, Annotations, External Link, Internal PDF Link
    4. "Lockwood (Michael) - When Does a Life Begin?", 1987, Annotations
    5. "Olson (Eric) - Persistence", 1999
    6. "Olson (Eric) - Psychology and Personal Identity", 1999
    7. "Wilson (Jack) - Beyond Horses and Oak Trees: A New Theory of Individuation for Living Entities", 1999, Annotations
• A further reading list might start with:-
  • General:
    1. "Campbell (Scott) - Persons and Substances", 2001
    2. "Price (Marjorie) - Identity Through Time", 1977, Annotations, Internal PDF Link, Read = 147%
    3. "Sauchelli (Andrea) - The animal, the corpse, and the remnant-person", 2016, Internal PDF Link, Read = 8%
    4. "Tollefsen (Christopher) - Animalism and the Unborn Human Being", 2004, External Link, Internal PDF Link, Read = 13%
    5. "Wiggins (David) - Metaphysics: Substance", 1998, No Abstract
    6. "Wiggins (David) - Outline of a Theory of Individuation (S&S)", 1980, Annotations
    7. "Wiggins (David) - Sameness and Substance", 1980, Book, Read = 11%
    8. "Wiggins (David) - The Absoluteness of Sameness (S&S)", 1980, Annotations

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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-holder²⁰.

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Table of the Previous 9 Versions of this Note:

Date	Length	Title
20/09/2022 11:24:00	3586	Phase Sortals
02/05/2022 23:44:10	3141	Phase Sortals
16/02/2021 01:00:29	2938	Phase Sortals
29/09/2020 19:24:58	2607	Phase Sortals
01/05/2018 00:46:05	4741	Phase Sortals
11/03/2018 20:19:41	3790	Phase Sortals
18/12/2010 19:58:05	2139	Phase Sortals
26/11/2007 23:25:26	2043	Phase Sortals
12/08/2007 10:17:46	1421	Phase Sortals

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Note last updated	Reading List for this Topic	Parent Topic
06/07/2023 00:43:12	Phase Sortals	Sortals

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Summary of Notes Referenced by This Note

Animalism	Animals	Awaiting Attention (Personal Identity)	Human Beings	Intermittent Objects
Kinds	Metamorphosis	Natural Kinds	Note Links Explanation	Person
Plug Note Apologia	Properties	Psychological View	Sortals	Substance
Vagueness	Wiggins	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

Baker - Materialism with a Human Face	Baker - Persons in the Material World, 2	Clinical Observations, 2	Daniel Dennett – Conditions of Personhood	Existential Passage
Garrett - Persons and Bodies - Response	Human Beings	Intermittent Objects, 2, 3	Kinds, 2, 3	Metamorphosis
Noonan - Persons and Bodies - Response, 2, 3	Olson - What Are We? Animals, 2	Olson - What Are We? The Question, 2	Person	Personal Identity and Moral Action. T1
PID Note, Book & Paper Usage, 2, 3, 4	Psychological Continuity	Reductionism	Research - Proposal	Sortals
Substance	Thesis - Chapter 01 (Introduction)	Thesis - Chapter 02 (What are We?)	Thesis - Chapter 03 (What is a Person?), 2, 3	Thesis - Chapter 04 (Basic Metaphysical Issues), 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
Thesis - Chapter 05 (Persistence and Time), 2	Thesis - Chapter 06 (Animalism and Arguments for It)	Thesis - Chapter 10 (Thought Experiments), 2	Thesis - Current Stance	Thesis - Personal Identity, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17
Unity of the Person	Website Generator Documentation - Functors, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6	Wiggins

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?
Anscombe (G.E.M.)	Objects and Identity: Foreward	Paper
Baker (Deane-Peter)	Taylor and Parfit on Personal Identity: a Response to Lotter	Paper		Yes
Baker (Lynne Rudder)	Materialism with a Human Face	Paper		Yes
Baker (Lynne Rudder)	Persons in the Material World	Paper	2	Yes
Baker (Lynne Rudder)	When Do Persons Begin and End?	Paper		Yes
Braddon-Mitchell (David) & Miller (Kristie)	Talking about a Universalist World	Paper
Burke (Michael)	Copper Statues and Pieces of Copper: A Challenge to the Standard Account	Paper		Yes
Campbell (Scott)	Persons and Substances	Paper
Dennett (Daniel)	Conditions of Personhood	Paper		Yes
Garrett (Brian)	Animalism and Reductionism	Paper		Yes
Garrett (Brian)	The Story of I: Some Comments on L.R.Baker 'Persons & Bodies'	Paper		Yes
Hershenov (David)	Review of Nancey Murphy's 'Bodies and Souls, or Spirited Bodies?'	Paper		Yes
Kazez (Jean)	The Philosophical Parent: Asking the Hard Questions About Having and Raising Children	Paper		Yes
Kotak (Aakash)	The Hybrid Theory of Personal Identity	Paper
Lockwood (Michael)	When Does a Life Begin?	Paper	2, 3, 4	Yes
Noller (Jorg)	A Transformative Account of Personal Identity	Paper
Noonan (Harold)	Arguments Against Animalism: Comments on L.R.Baker 'Persons & Bodies'	Paper	2, 3	Yes
Olson (Eric)	Persistence	Paper	2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11	Yes
Olson (Eric)	Psychology and Personal Identity	Paper	2, 3, 4, 5	Yes
Olson (Eric)	The Human Animal: Introduction	Paper		Yes
Olson (Eric)	What Are We? Animals	Paper	2	Yes
Olson (Eric)	What Are We? The Question	Paper	2	Yes
Parfit (Derek)	Experiences, subjects, and conceptual schemes	Paper
Price (Marjorie)	Identity Through Time	Paper	2
Shoemaker (David)	Personal Identity, Rational Anticipation, and Self-Concern	Paper		Yes
Smart (Brian)	How can Persons be Ascribed M-Predicates?	Paper		Yes
Snowdon (Paul)	The Self and Personal Identity	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Review - Daniel Dennett – Conditions of Personhood	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Chapter 01 (Introduction)	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Chapter 02 (What Are We?)	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Chapter 03 (What is a Person?)	Paper	2, 3	Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Chapter 04 (Basic Metaphysical Issues)	Paper	2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10	Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Chapter 05 (Persistence and Time)	Paper	2	Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Chapter 06 (Animalism and Arguments for It)	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Chapter 10 (Thought Experiments)	Paper	2	Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Clinical Observations	Paper	2	Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Current Position	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Human Beings	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Intermittent Objects	Paper	2, 3	Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Kinds	Paper	2, 3	Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Metamorphosis	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Person	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Personal Identity	Paper	2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17	Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Psychological Continuity	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Reductionism	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Sortals	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Substance	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Unity of the Person	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Wiggins	Paper		Yes
Wilson (Jack)	Beyond Horses and Oak Trees: A New Theory of Individuation for Living Entities	Paper	2, 3, 4	Yes

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References & Reading List

Author	Title	Medium	Source	Read?
Baker (Lynne Rudder)	When Do Persons Begin and End?	Paper - Cited	Distinguished Faculty Lecture, December 5, 2005	Yes
Campbell (Scott)	Persons and Substances	Paper - Cited	Philosophical Studies 104, Number 3, June 2001, pp. 253-267(15).	No
Lockwood (Michael)	When Does a Life Begin?	Paper - By Subtopic	Lockwood - Moral Dilemmas in Modern Medicine, 1987	Yes
Lockwood (Michael), Ed.	Moral Dilemmas in Modern Medicine	Book - By Subtopic (via Paper By Subtopic)	Lockwood (Michael), Ed. - Moral Dilemmas in Modern Medicine	29%
Marquis (Don)	Why Abortion is Immoral	Paper - By Subtopic	Journal of Philosophy, Vol. 86, No. 4, Apr., 1989, pp. 183-202	No
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Phase Sortals	Paper - By Subtopic		Yes
Wiggins (David)	Sameness and Substance	Book - Cited	Wiggins (David) - Sameness and Substance	11%

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Text Colour Conventions

1. Blue: Text by me; © Theo Todman, 2025

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