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Personal Identity

Connectedness vs Continuity

(Work In Progress: output at 30/11/2025 18:50:24)

Plug Note¹

• Thesis Text:
  1. When defining persistence conditions², we need to distinguish between connectedness and continuity.
     1. Continuity is a transitive relation that relates adjacent stages.
     2. Connectedness is intransitive and requires enough of the properties of interest to be maintained over time.
  2. At root, this is just the message of the Old Soldier, raised against Locke³, and answered by Ancestrals of the “remembers” relation.
  3. Indeed, "Johnston (Mark) - Human Beings" describes Continuity as the ancestral of Connectedness.
  4. Persons⁴ – like animals⁵ – develop and “grow” (not necessarily physically – that would be begging the question as to what persons are). We can admit that we have the same animal from fetus⁶ to corpse⁷ (with some arguments about the termini). However, do we have the same person?
  5. Contrary to standard Animalism⁸, my Intuition⁹ is that whatever physical and psychological discontinuities¹⁰ the human animal undergoes, we do have the same person where we have a person at all, provided a single First Person Perspective¹¹ is maintained, though my definition of FPP₁₂ would differ from that proposed by Baker¹³.
  6. If one’s character changes radically over time, do you remain the same person? Yes, if we want the child and the adult to be the same person (as we do), or the convert to be the same person as the unbeliever.
  7. The relevance of this to the present debate is that it is continuity that is relevant to personal identity, and not connectedness. This applies whatever view of Personal Identity we hold.
  8. Derek Parfit – who doesn’t think identity is what matters¹⁴ – holds a different view; that it is connectedness that matters, and so we need have no concern for future selves¹⁵ that are psychologically disconnected from our current selves. I think this view is mistaken, as we are locked into a First Person Perspective¹⁶ and will have to experience the fate of that future self, however unconnected.
  9. This Note doesn’t cover the topic of topological connectedness, which is relevant to the metaphysics of pregnancy¹⁷, and much else.
  10. I think I need to have a Note on Connectedness per se which should cover all I have to say on the topic.
  11. Finally, issues of Continuity and Connectedness have featured often earlier in this Thesis; I need to add some signposting to say that the matter is discussed in detail here.

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  Further Remarks:
  1. This note is linked to two others:-
     • Continuity¹⁸, and
     • Methuselah¹⁹.
  2. It needs to link to a future one on Connectedness per se.

References

• Relevant Works cited above:
  1. "Johnston (Mark) - Human Beings", 1987, Write-Up Note²⁰, Annotations, Internal PDF Link, Read
• For a Page of Links²¹ to this Note, Click here. This covers Connectedness only; Continuity is covered under its own Note.
• In the lists of references below, it’s sometimes best to jump to them via the “Authors, Books & Papers Citing this Note” list, which takes you directly to the appropriate passage(s), which may be tangential to the reference’s main thread.
• Works on this topic that I’ve actually read²², include the following:-
  • General:
    1. "Carter (William) - How to Change Your Mind", 1989, Annotations
    2. "Chappell (Tim), Chappell (Sophie Grace) - Seeds: On Personal Identity and the Resurrection", 2016, Annotations, External Link, Internal PDF Link
    3. "Funkhouser (Eric) - Notes on Parfit, 'Personal Identity'", 2014, External Link, Internal PDF Link
    4. "Hershenov (David) - Review of Nancey Murphy's 'Bodies and Souls, or Spirited Bodies?'", 2007, Annotations, External Link, Internal PDF Link
    5. "Hirsch (Eli) - Minds and Bodies: Introduction", 1982
    6. "Johnston (Mark) - Human Beings", 1987, Write-Up Note²³, Annotations, Internal PDF Link
    7. "Lewis (David) - Survival and Identity", 1983, Internal PDF Link
    8. "Noonan (Harold) - Quasi-Memory", 2003, Annotations
    9. "Olson (Eric) - Persistence", 1999
    10. "Parfit (Derek) - Nagel's Brain", 1986
    11. "Parfit (Derek) - Personal Identity and Rationality", 1986
    12. "Parfit (Derek) - Summary of Discussion", 1982, External Link, Internal PDF Link
    13. "Shoemaker (David) - Personal Identity, Rational Anticipation, and Self-Concern", 2009
    14. "Thomas (Janice L.) - Psychological continuity", 2000
    15. "Wiggins (David) - The Concern to Survive", 1987, Annotations
• A further reading₂₄ list might start with:-
  • General:
    1. "Belzer (Marvin) - Notes on Relation R", 1996, Internal PDF Link, Read = 17%
    2. "Bradley (Ben) - The Worst Time to Die", 2008, Internal PDF Link
    3. "Brennan (Andrew) - Amnesia and Other Problems", 1988
    4. "Brown (M.T.) - Multiple Personality and Personal Identity", 2001, Internal PDF Link
    5. "Butkovic (Ana) - Does Identity Really Matter? Parfit vs Lewis", 2010, Internal PDF Link, Read = 6%
    6. "Campbell (Scott) - Is Connectedness Necessary to What Matters in Survival?", 2001, Internal PDF Link
    7. "Campbell (Scott) - Rapid Psychological Change", 2004, Internal PDF Link, Read = 11%
    8. "Carter (William) - Personal Identity", 1990
    9. "Chappell (Tim), Chappell (Sophie Grace) - Personal Identity, 'R-Relatedness' And The Empty Question Argument", 1995, Internal PDF Link, Read = 17%
    10. "Ehring (Douglas) - Survival and Trivial Facts", 1987, Read = 17%
    11. "Gillett (Grant) - Brain Bisection and Personal Identity", 1986, Internal PDF Link, Read = 17%
    12. "Hershenov (David) - The Memory Criterion and the Problem of Backward Causation", 2007, External Link, Internal PDF Link, Read = 17%
    13. "Johnston (Mark) - Is Heaven a Place We Can Get To?", 2010, Read = 78%
    14. "McInerney (Peter K.) - Conceptions of Persons and Persons through Time", 2000, Internal PDF Link
    15. "McMahan (Jeff) - Death and the Value of Life", 1988, Internal PDF Link, Read = 3%
    16. "Mills (Eugene) - Dividing Without Reducing: Bodily Fission and Personal Identity", 1993
    17. "Otsuka (Michael) - Personal Identity, Substantial Change, and the Significance of Becoming", 2018, External Link, Internal PDF Link, Read = 25%
    18. "Slors (Marc) - A Content-Oriented Conception of Psychological Continuity", 2001, Internal PDF Link
    19. "Stone (Jim) - Parfit and the Buddha: Why There Are No People", 1988, Internal PDF Link
    20. "Stone (Jim) - Why there are still no people", 2005, Internal PDF Link
    21. "Wolf (Susan) - Self-Interest and Interest in Selves", 1986, Internal PDF Link, Read = 7%

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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-holder²⁵.

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In-Page Footnotes:

Footnote 12:

1. Baker’s definition of FPP is very ‘thick’, where ‘first person’ isn’t simply a grammatical term but absorbs the full sense of ‘Person’.
2. I propose nothing more than a ‘window on the world’ that can be had by non-Persons.

Footnote 24:

• I became aware while compiling this list that it overlaps with papers by – and discussion of – Parfit’s work, which is covered under that Note and elsewhere.
• Hence, I’ve omitted most works by Derek Parfit unless they discuss the difference between connectivity and connectedness.

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Table of the Previous 11 Versions of this Note:

Date	Length	Title
06/07/2023 00:43:12	5498	Connectedness vs Continuity
20/09/2022 11:24:00	5226	Connectedness vs Continuity
04/05/2022 11:19:41	4845	Connectedness vs Continuity
09/02/2021 00:40:19	4620	Connectedness vs Continuity
15/09/2020 21:33:07	4022	Connectedness vs Continuity
04/02/2018 13:32:10	3759	Connectedness vs Continuity
05/04/2016 23:19:41	1527	Connectedness vs Continuity
18/12/2010 19:58:05	1198	Connectedness vs Continuity
26/08/2009 01:14:53	1102	Connectedness vs Continuity
26/11/2007 23:25:26	866	Connectedness vs Continuity
12/08/2007 10:17:46	822	Connectedness vs Continuity

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Note last updated	Reading List for this Topic	Parent Topic
15/02/2026 09:45:03	Connectedness vs Continuity	Logic of Identity

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Summary of Notes Referenced by This Note

Animalism	Animals	Awaiting Attention (Personal Identity)	Baker	Continuity
Corpses	Fetuses	First-Person Perspective	Intuition	Johnston - Human Beings
Locke	Methuselah	Note Links Explanation	Parfit	Persistence Criteria
Person	Plug Note Apologia	Pregnancy	Psychological Continuity	Self
What Matters	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

Artifacts	Bodily Continuity	Continuity	Existential Passage	Fetuses
Johnston - Human Beings	Methuselah	Olson - What Are We? The Question, 2	Parfit	Personal Identity and Moral Action. T1
PID Note, Book & Paper Usage, 2, 3	Psychological Continuity, 2	Psychological Criterion	Psychological View	Status: Personal Identity (2025 - December), 2
Status: Priority Task List (2026 - February), 2	Status: Summary (2025 - December), 2	Strawson - Why I Have No Future	Thesis - Chapter 01 (Introduction), 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7	Thesis - Chapter 02 (What are We?)
Thesis - Chapter 04 (Basic Metaphysical Issues)	Thesis - Chapter 05 (Persistence and Time), 2, 3, 4, 5	Thesis - Chapter 08 (Arguments against Animalism)	Thesis - Chapter 12 (Conclusion)	Thesis - Current Stance
Thesis - Personal Identity, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15	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?
Belzer (Marvin)	Notes on Relation R	Paper	2
Bradley (Ben)	The Worst Time to Die	Paper
Brennan (Andrew)	Amnesia and Other Problems	Paper
Brown (M.T.)	Multiple Personality and Personal Identity	Paper
Butkovic (Ana)	Does Identity Really Matter? Parfit vs Lewis	Paper
Campbell (Scott)	Is Connectedness Necessary to What Matters in Survival?	Paper	2, 3, 4
Campbell (Scott)	Rapid Psychological Change	Paper
Carter (William)	How to Change Your Mind	Paper		Yes
Carter (William)	Personal Identity	Paper
Chappell (Tim), Chappell (Sophie Grace)	Personal Identity, 'R-Relatedness' And The Empty Question Argument	Paper
Chappell (Tim), Chappell (Sophie Grace)	Seeds: On Personal Identity and the Resurrection	Paper		Yes
Clark (Andy) & Kuhn (Robert Lawrence)	Aeon: Video - Andy Clark - Virtual immortality	Paper		Yes
Ehring (Douglas)	Survival and Trivial Facts	Paper
Funkhouser (Eric)	Notes on Parfit, 'Personal Identity'	Paper		Yes
Gillett (Grant)	Brain Bisection and Personal Identity	Paper
Hershenov (David)	Review of Nancey Murphy's 'Bodies and Souls, or Spirited Bodies?'	Paper		Yes
Hershenov (David)	The Memory Criterion and the Problem of Backward Causation	Paper	2
Hirsch (Eli)	Minds and Bodies: Introduction	Paper		Yes
Hoffman (Joshua) & Rosenkrantz (Gary)	On the Unity of the Parts of Organisms	Paper
Johnston (Mark)	Human Beings	Paper		Yes
Johnston (Mark)	Is Heaven a Place We Can Get To?	Paper
Keefe (Rosanna)	Vagueness by Numbers	Paper
Kingma (Elselijn)	Lady Parts: The Metaphysics of Pregnancy	Paper		Yes
Kingma (Elselijn)	Were You Part of Your Mother?	Paper	2	Yes
Lewis (David)	Survival and Identity	Paper	2	Yes
Lewis (David)	The Paradoxes of Time Travel	Paper
Martin (Raymond)	Self-Concern: An Experiential Approach to what Matters in Survival	Book		Yes
McInerney (Peter K.)	Conceptions of Persons and Persons through Time	Paper
McMahan (Jeff)	Death and the Value of Life	Paper
Merricks (Trenton)	Review of Jonathan Dancy's 'Reading Parfit'	Paper
Mills (Eugene)	Dividing Without Reducing: Bodily Fission and Personal Identity	Paper
Noonan (Harold)	Quasi-Memory	Paper		Yes
Noonan (Harold)	The Possibility of Reincarnation	Paper
Olson (Eric)	Persistence	Paper	2, 3	Yes
Olson (Eric)	Psychology and Personal Identity	Paper	2	Yes
Olson (Eric)	What Are We? The Question	Paper	2	Yes
Otsuka (Michael)	Personal Identity, Substantial Change, and the Significance of Becoming	Paper
Parfit (Derek)	A Response (to Gillett - Reasoning About Persons)	Paper
Parfit (Derek)	Experiences, subjects, and conceptual schemes	Paper
Parfit (Derek)	Lewis, Perry, and What Matters	Paper		Yes
Parfit (Derek)	Nagel's Brain	Paper	2, 3	Yes
Parfit (Derek)	Personal Identity and Rationality	Paper		Yes
Parfit (Derek)	Summary of Discussion	Paper	2, 3, 4	Yes
Parfit (Derek)	What We Believe Ourselves To Be	Paper		Yes
Radden (Jennifer)	A Metaphysics of Successive Selves	Paper
Roberts (Melinda)	Lewis's Theory Of Personal Identity	Paper
Robinson (John)	Personal Identity and Survival	Paper	2, 3
Shoemaker (David)	Personal Identity and Ethical Theory	Paper		Yes
Shoemaker (David)	Personal Identity and Ethics - Introduction	Paper		Yes
Shoemaker (David)	Personal Identity, Rational Anticipation, and Self-Concern	Paper	2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14	Yes
Shoemaker (Sydney)	Persons and Personal Identity	Paper		Yes
Slors (Marc)	A Content-Oriented Conception of Psychological Continuity	Paper
Slors (Marc)	A Content-Oriented Conception of Psychological Continuity	Paper
Stone (Jim)	Parfit and the Buddha: Why There Are No People	Paper	2
Stone (Jim)	Why there are still no people	Paper	2
Strawson (Galen)	Why I Have No Future	Paper		Yes
Swinburne (Richard)	How To Determine Which Is The True Theory Of Personal Identity	Paper	2
Tammet (Daniel)	N/A	Author
Thomas (Janice L.)	Psychological continuity	Paper	2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9	Yes
Thomas (Janice L.)	What matters for survival and the logical possibility of resurrection	Paper	2	Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Artifacts	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Bodily Continuity	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Chapter 01 (Introduction)	Paper	2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7	Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Chapter 02 (What Are We?)	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Chapter 04 (Basic Metaphysical Issues)	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Chapter 05 (Persistence and Time)	Paper	2, 3, 4, 5	Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Chapter 08 (Arguments against Animalism)	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Continuity	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Current Position	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Fetuses	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Methuselah	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Parfit	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Personal Identity	Paper	2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14	Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Psychological Continuity	Paper	2	Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Psychological Criterion	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Psychological View	Paper		Yes
Tollefsen (Christopher)	Animalism and the Unborn Human Being	Paper
Wiggins (David)	Preface: Sameness and Substance Renewed	Paper		Yes
Wiggins (David)	The Concern to Survive	Paper	2, 3, 4	Yes
Williams (Bernard)	The Makropulos Case: Reflections on the Tedium of Immortality	Paper		Yes
Wolf (Susan)	Self-Interest and Interest in Selves	Paper	2, 3, 4

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References & Reading List

Author	Title	Medium	Source	Read?
Belzer (Marvin)	Notes on Relation R	Paper - Cited	Analysis, Vol. 56, No. 1, Jan., 1996, pp. 56-62	17%
Bradley (Ben)	The Worst Time to Die	Paper - Cited	Ethics 118 (January 2008): 291–314	No
Brennan (Andrew)	Amnesia and Other Problems	Paper - Cited	Brennan - Conditions of Identity, 1988, Chapter 9	No
Brennan (Andrew)	Conditions of Identity	Book - Cited (via Paper Cited)	Bibliographical details to be supplied	0%
Campbell (Scott)	Is Connectedness Necessary to What Matters in Survival?	Paper - By Subtopic	Ratio 14.3, September 2001, pp. 193-202(10).	No
Campbell (Scott)	Rapid Psychological Change	Paper - By Subtopic	Analysis; Jul2004, Vol. 64 Issue 3, p256-264, 9p	11%
Carter (William)	How to Change Your Mind	Paper - Cited	Canadian Journal of Philosophy, Vol. 19, No. 1, March 1989, pp. 1-14	Yes
Chappell (Tim), Chappell (Sophie Grace)	Seeds: On Personal Identity and the Resurrection	Paper - Cited	Cholbi, Michael ed. Immortality and the Philosophy of Death. London: Rowman & Littlefield, pp. 85–98.	Yes
Elman (Jeffrey), Bates (Elizabeth), Johnson (Mark), Karmiloff-Smith (Annette), Parisi (Domenico) & Plunkett (Kim)	Rethinking Innateness	Book - By Subtopic (via Paper By Subtopic)	Elman (Jeffrey), Bates (Elizabeth), Johnson (Mark), Karmiloff-Smith (Annette), Parisi (Domenico) & Plunkett (Kim) - Rethinking Innateness	3%
Elman (Jeffrey), Bates (Elizabeth), Johnson (Mark), Karmiloff-Smith (Annette), Parisi (Domenico) & Plunkett (Kim)	Rethinking Innateness	Paper - By Subtopic	Elman, Bates, Johnson, Karmiloff-Smith, Parisi & Plunkett - Rethinking Innateness - A Connectionist Perspective on Development	4%
Funkhouser (Eric)	Metaphysics, Spring 2014	Book - Cited (via Paper Cited)	Bibliographical details to be supplied	94%
Funkhouser (Eric)	Notes on Parfit, 'Personal Identity'	Paper - Cited	Funkhouser (Eric) - Metaphysics, Spring 2014	Yes
Hershenov (David)	Review of Nancey Murphy's 'Bodies and Souls, or Spirited Bodies?'	Paper - Cited	Religious Studies, 43:2, June 2007, 237-242	Yes
Hirsch (Eli)	Minds and Bodies: Introduction	Paper - Cited	Hirsch - The Concept of Identity, 1982, Introduction to Part 2	Yes
Hirsch (Eli)	The Concept of Identity	Book - Cited (via Paper Cited)	Bibliographical details to be supplied	Yes
Johnston (Mark)	Human Beings	Paper - Cited	Journal of Philosophy, Volume 84, Issue 2 (Feb 1987), 59-83	Yes
Lewis (David)	Philosophical Papers Volume I	Book - Cited (via Paper Cited)	Bibliographical details to be supplied	Yes
Lewis (David)	Survival and Identity	Paper - Cited	Lewis - Philosophical Papers Volume I, Part 1: Ontology, Chapter 5	Yes
Noonan (Harold)	Personal Identity	Book - Cited (via Paper Cited)	Bibliographical details to be supplied	Yes
Noonan (Harold)	Quasi-Memory	Paper - Cited	Noonan - Personal Identity, 2003, Chapter 8	Yes
Olson (Eric)	Persistence	Paper - Cited	The Human Animal, September 1999, Chapter 2, pp. 22-41	Yes
Olson (Eric)	The Human Animal - Personal Identity Without Psychology	Book - Cited (via Paper Cited)	Bibliographical details to be supplied	Yes
Olson (Eric)	What are We? A Study of Personal Ontology	Book - Referencing (via Paper Referencing)	Bibliographical details to be supplied	Yes
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
Parfit (Derek)	Nagel's Brain	Paper - Cited	Parfit - Reasons and Persons, Appendix D	Yes
Parfit (Derek)	Personal Identity and Rationality	Paper - Cited	Parfit - Reasons and Persons, January 1986, pp. 307-321(15).	Yes
Parfit (Derek)	Reasons and Persons	Book - Cited (via Paper Cited)	Bibliographical details to be supplied	Yes
Parfit (Derek)	Summary of Discussion	Paper - Cited	Synthese, Vol. 53, No. 2, Matters of the Mind (Nov., 1982), pp. 251-256	Yes
Plunkett (Kim) & Elman (Jeffrey)	Exercises in Rethinking Innateness - A Handbook for Connectionist Simulations	Book - By Subtopic (via Paper By Subtopic)	Plunkett (Kim) & Elman (Jeffrey) - Exercises in Rethinking Innateness - A Handbook for Connectionist Simulations	2%
Plunkett (Kim) & Elman (Jeffrey)	Exercises in Rethinking Innateness - A Handbook for Connectionist Simulations	Paper - By Subtopic	Plunkett & Elman - Exercises in Rethinking Innateness - A Handbook for Connectionist Simulations	4%
Shoemaker (David)	Personal Identity and Ethics: A Brief Introduction	Book - Cited (via Paper Cited)	Bibliographical details to be supplied	Yes
Shoemaker (David)	Personal Identity, Rational Anticipation, and Self-Concern	Paper - Cited	Shoemaker (David) - Personal Identity and Ethics: A Brief Introduction, 2009, Chapter 2	Yes
Thomas (Janice L.)	Mind and Person in the Philosophy of Religion	Book - Cited (via Paper Cited)	Bibliographical details to be supplied	Yes
Thomas (Janice L.)	Psychological continuity	Paper - Cited	Thomas (Janice L.) - Mind and Person in the Philosophy of Religion	Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Connectedness vs Continuity	Paper - By Subtopic		Yes
Wiggins (David)	Needs, Values, Truth: Essays in the Philosophy of Value	Book - Cited (via Paper Cited)	Bibliographical details to be supplied	3%
Wiggins (David)	The Concern to Survive	Paper - Cited	Wiggins (David) - Needs, Values, Truth	Yes

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Text Colour Conventions

1. Blue: Text by me; © Theo Todman, 2026

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