Theo Todman's Web Page - Notes Pages
Personal Identity
Biological View
(Text as at 06/07/2023 00:43:12)
Plug Note1
- Thesis Text:
- The Biological View (BV) is that we are2 biological organisms3, and – in particular – have the persistence conditions4 of biological organisms. Since the organisms we are are obviously human animals5, this view is effectively just Animalism6.
- However, it is just possible that the BV and Animalism might part company for some philosophers. Maybe you might think that we are essentially animals, but can metamorphose7 from one species to another or be reincarnated8 as an individual of another species – or as a different individual of the same species. These might count as variants of the BV, but would not be Animalism9 as commonly understood, since it presupposes that we cease to be at death, and are essentially human animals10 and, indeed, essentially one and the same human animal.
- The BV is to be distinguished from older physicalist11 variants – in particular the “Body View12”.
- For the detailed principles of individuation and persistence criteria associated with the BV, see the Biological Criterion13.
Further Remarks
- It is somewhat arbitrary as to which works fall under this topic, and which under
- I’ve tended to have a rather full list of those items that I’ve read, but the “further reading” list is somewhat minimalist.
References
- Relevant Works cited above: No items to list.
- Works on this topic that I’ve actually read16, include the following:-
- General:
- "Baker (Lynne Rudder) - Embryos and StemCell Research", 2006, External Link, Internal PDF Link
- "Baker (Lynne Rudder) - What Am I?", 1999, Write-Up Note17, Annotations, External Link, Internal PDF Link, Footnote18
- "Bourget (David) & Chalmers (David) - The PhilPapers Surveys: What Do Philosophers Believe?", 2014, Annotations, Internal PDF Link
- "Carter (William) - Will I Be a Dead Person?", 1999, Annotations, Internal PDF Link
- "Lerner (Berel Dov) - Review of 'Personal Identity and Ethics: A Brief Introduction' by David Shoemaker", 2009
- "Olson (Eric) - Persistence", 1999, Footnote19
- "Olson (Eric) - Psychology and Personal Identity", 1999
- "Olson (Eric) - Reply to Lynne Rudder Baker", 1999, Annotations, Internal PDF Link
- "Olson (Eric) - The Human Animal - Personal Identity Without Psychology", 1997, Book
- "Olson (Eric) - Was I Ever a Fetus?", 1997, Annotations, Internal PDF Link
- "Olson (Eric) - Why We Need Not Accept the Psychological Approach", 1999
- "Shoemaker (David) - Personal Identity and Ethics: A Brief Introduction", 2009, Book, Footnote20
- "Wilson (Jack) - Biological Individuality - The identity and Persistence of Living Entities", 1999, Book
- A further reading list might start with:-
- General:
- "Cerullo (Michael A.) - Uploading and Branching Identity", 2015, Annotations, External Link, Internal PDF Link, Read = 133%, Footnote21
- "DeGrazia (David) - Human Identity and Bioethics", 2005, Book, Read = 7%
- "Hershenov (David) - Review of David DeGrazia’s Human Identity and Bioethics", 2008, Annotations, External Link, Internal PDF Link, Read = 83%
- "Liao (S. Matthew) - Twinning, Inorganic Replacement, and the Organism View", 2010, Internal PDF Link, Read = 11%
- "Velleman (David) - Family History", 2005, External Link, Internal PDF Link, Read = 17%
- "Young (J.Z.) - An Introduction to the Study of Man", 1971, Book
- 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-holder22.
In-Page Footnotes:
Footnote 18: Footnote 19:
- Olson is one of the primary exponents of the Biological View, so almost anything by him might be cited.
- I’ve restricted the list to those items that – in the text or comments I’ve incorporated on-line – explicitly use the term.
Footnote 20: Footnote 21:
- Very tangentially relevant, but Uploading and the BV are antithetical theories of PID.
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
Abbreviations, 2 |
Biological Criterion, 2 |
Bodily Continuity |
Noonan - Persons and Bodies - Response, 2 |
Persistence Criteria |
PID Note, Book & Paper Usage, 2, 3 |
Thesis - Chapter 02 (What are We?) |
Thesis - Chapter 05 (Persistence and Time) |
Thesis - Chapter 06 (Animalism and Arguments for It), 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 |
Thesis - Current Stance |
Website Generator Documentation - Functors, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 |
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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? |
Baker (Lynne Rudder) |
Embryos and StemCell Research |
Paper  |
|
Yes |
Baker (Lynne Rudder) |
What Am I? |
Paper  |
2 |
Yes |
Bourget (David) & Chalmers (David) |
The PhilPapers Surveys: What Do Philosophers Believe? |
Paper  |
2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 |
Yes |
Carter (William) |
Will I Be a Dead Person? |
Paper  |
2, 3 |
Yes |
Cerullo (Michael A.) |
Uploading and Branching Identity |
Paper  |
|
|
DeGrazia (David) |
Human Identity and Bioethics |
Book  |
2 |
|
DeGrazia (David) |
Human Identity and Bioethics: Introduction |
Paper  |
2 |
Yes |
DeGrazia (David) |
Human Persons: Numerical Identity and Essence |
Paper  |
|
|
Meincke (Anne Sophie) |
Human Persons – A Process View |
Paper  |
|
Yes |
Noonan (Harold) |
Arguments Against Animalism: Comments on L.R.Baker 'Persons & Bodies' |
Paper  |
2 |
Yes |
Olson (Eric) |
Persistence |
Paper  |
|
Yes |
Olson (Eric) |
Psychology and Personal Identity |
Paper  |
2 |
Yes |
Olson (Eric) |
Reply to Lynne Rudder Baker |
Paper  |
|
Yes |
Olson (Eric) |
Was I Ever a Fetus? |
Paper  |
|
Yes |
Olson (Eric) |
Why We Need Not Accept the Psychological Approach |
Paper  |
|
Yes |
Shoemaker (David) |
Personal Identity and Ethics - Introduction |
Paper  |
|
Yes |
Shoemaker (David) |
Personal Identity and Immortality |
Paper  |
|
Yes |
Todman (Theo) |
Thesis - Abbreviations |
Paper  |
2 |
Yes |
Todman (Theo) |
Thesis - Biological Criterion |
Paper  |
2 |
Yes |
Todman (Theo) |
Thesis - Bodily Continuity |
Paper  |
|
Yes |
Todman (Theo) |
Thesis - Chapter 02 (What Are We?) |
Paper  |
|
Yes |
Todman (Theo) |
Thesis - Chapter 05 (Persistence and Time) |
Paper  |
|
Yes |
Todman (Theo) |
Thesis - Chapter 06 (Animalism and Arguments for It) |
Paper  |
2, 3, 4, 5, 6 |
Yes |
Todman (Theo) |
Thesis - Current Position |
Paper  |
|
Yes |
Todman (Theo) |
Thesis - Persistence Criteria |
Paper  |
|
Yes |
Young (J.Z.) |
An Introduction to the Study of Man |
Book  |
|
|
References & Reading List
Author |
Title |
Medium |
Source |
Read? |
Baker (Lynne Rudder) |
Embryos and StemCell Research |
Paper - Cited  |
UMass Magazine, Spring 2006 |
Yes |
Calvo (Paco) |
The philosophy of plant neurobiology: a manifesto |
Paper - By Subtopic  |
Synthese , May 2016, Vol. 193, No. 5, Special Issue on Neuroscience And Its Philosophy (2014–2015) (May 2016), pp. 1323-1343 |
6% |
Calvo (Paco) |
What Is It Like to Be a Plant? |
Paper - By Subtopic  |
Journal of Consciousness Studies, 24, No. 9–10, 2017, pp. 205–27 |
5% |
Carter (William) |
Will I Be a Dead Person? |
Paper - By Subtopic  |
Philosophy and Phenomenological Research Mar99, Vol. 59 Issue 1, p167, 5p; |
Yes |
Cerullo (Michael A.) |
Uploading and Branching Identity |
Paper - Cited  |
Minds & Machines (2015) 25:17–36 |
78% |
DeGrazia (David) |
Human Identity and Bioethics |
Book - Cited  |
DeGrazia (David) - Human Identity and Bioethics |
7% |
DeGrazia (David) |
Human Identity and Bioethics: Introduction |
Paper - By Subtopic  |
DeGrazia - Human Identity and Bioethics, 2005, Chapter 1, 1978 |
Yes |
Gagliano (Monica) |
The mind of plants: Thinking the unthinkable |
Paper - By Subtopic  |
Communicative and Integrative Biology, 10, 2017 |
Yes |
Henriques (Martha) |
Organisms might be quantum machines |
Paper - By Subtopic  |
BBC Website ("Earth"), 18th July 2016 |
Yes |
Meincke (Anne Sophie) |
Autopoiesis, Biological Autonomy and the Process View of Life |
Paper - By Subtopic  |
European Journal for Philosophy of Science (2019) 9:5 |
11% |
Meincke (Anne Sophie) |
Bio-Agency and the Possibility of Artificial Agents |
Paper - By Subtopic  |
Philosophy of Science - Between the Natural Sciences, the Social Sciences, and the Humanities. ed. by G. Schurz. Dordrecht: Springer. 2018 |
5% |
Meincke (Anne Sophie) |
Review of Chauncey Maher's 'Plant Minds' |
Paper - By Subtopic  |
The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science: Review of Books, 2019 |
Yes |
Meincke (Anne Sophie) |
Systems or Bodies? On How (Not) to Embody Autopoiesis |
Paper - By Subtopic  |
Adaptive Behavior, Published On-Line 8 April 2019 |
No |
Olson (Eric) |
Psychology and Personal Identity |
Paper - Cited  |
The Human Animal, September 1999, Chapter 1, pp. 7-21 |
Yes |
Olson (Eric) |
The Human Animal - Personal Identity Without Psychology |
Book - Cited  |
Olson (Eric) - The Human Animal - Personal Identity Without Psychology |
Yes |
Shoemaker (David) |
Personal Identity and Ethics - Introduction |
Paper - By Subtopic  |
Shoemaker (David) - Personal Identity and Ethics: A Brief Introduction, 2009, Introduction |
Yes |
Shoemaker (David) |
Personal Identity and Ethics: A Brief Introduction |
Book - By Subtopic (via Paper By Subtopic)  |
Shoemaker (David) - Personal Identity and Ethics: A Brief Introduction |
Yes |
Todman (Theo) |
Thesis - Biological View |
Paper - By Subtopic  |
|
Yes |
Trewavas (Anthony) |
Aspects of Plant Intelligence |
Paper - By Subtopic  |
Annals of Botany, 92, pp. 1–20, 2003 |
6% |
Trewavas (Anthony) |
Plant intelligence: Mindless mastery |
Paper - By Subtopic  |
Nature, 415, p. 841, 2002 |
No |
Young (J.Z.) |
An Introduction to the Study of Man |
Book - By Subtopic  |
Young (J.Z.) - An Introduction to the Study of Man |
No |
Text Colour Conventions
- Blue: Text by me; © Theo Todman, 2023