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Personal Identity

Lewis

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

Plug Note¹

• Thesis Text:
  1. David Lewis’s views on personal identity are characterised by his espousal of perdurantism².
  2. As is discussed under that Note, perdurantist metaphysics avoids the reduplication³ problems for identity-preservation following fission⁴. See also my Note on Counting Persons⁵.
  3. Lewis is also important for espousing realism with respect to possible worlds. The modal⁶ counterpart relation is used as an analogy in exdurantism⁷. I will not discuss any of this here.
  4. Lynne Rudder Baker charges Lewis with trying to reduce the First Person Perspective⁸.
  5. Lewis discusses the Thought Experiment⁹ of Methuselah¹⁰, important for the Psychological View¹¹ of personal identity. Lewis espouses the PV¹² and thinks that several Persons¹³ can exist successively in a single human animal¹⁴.

References

• Relevant Works cited above: No items to list.
• For a Page of Links¹⁵ to this Note, Click here. There are a lot of references. I started an updating run, but it was all too tedious to complete.
• Works on this topic that I’ve actually read¹⁶, include the following:-
  • Lewis:
    1. "Lewis (David) - Attitudes De Dicto and De Se", 1979, Internal PDF Link
    2. "Lewis (David) - Counterparts of Persons and Their Bodies", 1971, External Link, Internal PDF Link
    3. "Lewis (David) - Philosophical Papers Volume I", 1983, Book
    4. "Lewis (David) - Survival and Identity", 1983, Internal PDF Link, Footnote₁₇
    5. "Lewis (David) - The Problem of Temporary Intrinsics", 1986
• A further reading list might start with:-
  • General:
    1. "Baker (Lynne Rudder) - Does Naturalism Rest on a Mistake?", 2011, External Link, Internal PDF Link, Read = 8%
    2. "Baker (Lynne Rudder) - Reductive Approaches to the First-Person Perspective", 2013, Footnote₁₈
    3. "Belzer (Marvin) - Self-Conception and Personal Identity: Revisiting Parfit and Lewis with an Eye on the Grip of the Unity Reaction", 2005, Internal PDF Link, Read = 3%
    4. "Funkhouser (Eric) - Notes on Lewis, 'Survival and Identity'", 2014, External Link, Internal PDF Link, Read = 33%
    5. "Hawley (Katherine) - David Lewis on Persistence", 2015, Internal PDF Link, Read = 44%
    6. "Jackson (Frank) & Priest (Graham), Eds. - Lewisian Themes: The Philosophy of David K. Lewis", 2004, Book, Read = 5%
    7. "Moyer (Mark) - A Survival Guide to Fission", 2008, External Link, Internal PDF Link, Read = 5%
    8. "Roberts (Melinda) - Lewis's Theory Of Personal Identity", 1983, Internal PDF Link
    9. "Williams (J. Robbie G.) - An Argument for the Many", 2006, Internal PDF Link
  • Lewis:
    1. "Lewis (David) - Counterparts or Double Lives", 1986
    2. "Lewis (David) - Individuation By Acquaintance and By Stipulation", 1983, Internal PDF Link
    3. "Lewis (David) - Many, But Almost One", 1999 Reprint, Internal PDF Link, Read = 6%
    4. "Lewis (David) - Noneism or Allism?", 1990
    5. "Lewis (David) - Philosophical Papers Volume II", 1986, Book, Read = 15%
    6. "Lewis (David) - Vague Identity: Evans Misunderstood", 1988, No Abstract, Internal PDF Link

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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-holder¹⁹.

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In-Page Footnotes:

Footnote 17:

• The Methuselah TE appears in this paper
• See "Funkhouser (Eric) - Notes on Lewis, 'Survival and Identity'".

Footnote 18:

• Maybe also "Baker (Lynne Rudder) - Does Naturalism Rest on a Mistake?".

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Table of the Previous 8 Versions of this Note:

Date	Length	Title
20/09/2022 11:24:00	2849	Lewis
11/04/2022 00:01:26	2468	Lewis
14/02/2021 12:51:50	2227	Lewis
28/09/2020 13:06:14	1697	Lewis
06/03/2018 21:21:36	2898	Lewis
18/12/2010 19:58:05	188	Lewis
26/11/2007 23:25:26	176	Lewis
12/08/2007 10:17:46	80	Lewis

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

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Summary of Notes Referenced by This Note

Awaiting Attention (Personal Identity)	Counting Persons	Exdurantism	First-Person Perspective	Fission
Human Animals	Methuselah	Modality	Note Links Explanation	Perdurantism
Person	Plug Note Apologia	Psychological View	Reduplication Objections	Thought Experiments
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

Fission	Methuselah	Modality	PID Note, Book & Paper Usage, 2, 3	Psychological Continuity
Ship of Theseus	Thesis - Chapter 01 (Introduction), 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7	Thesis - Chapter 05 (Persistence and Time), 2	Thesis - Chapter 07 (The Constitution View and Arguments for It)	Thesis - Chapter 10 (Thought Experiments)
Thesis - Chapter 12 (Conclusion)	Thesis - Current Stance	Thesis - Personal Identity, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9	Time	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?
Adams (Ernest)	On the Logic of High Probability	Paper
Akiba (Ken)	Identity Is Simple	Paper	2
Alward (Peter)	Mad, Martian, but not Mad Martian Pain	Paper	2
Arntzenius (Frank) & Hall (Ned)	On What We Know About Chance	Paper
Baillie (James)	Identity and Survival	Paper
Baker (Lynne Rudder)	Functionalism	Paper		Yes
Baker (Lynne Rudder)	Naturalism and the First-Person Perspective: What Is The Problem?	Paper	2, 3	Yes
Baker (Lynne Rudder)	Persons and the Natural Order	Paper	2
Baker (Lynne Rudder)	Reductive Approaches to the First-Person Perspective	Paper
Baldwin (Thomas)	The Identity Theory of Truth	Paper
Barnes (Elizabeth)	Vagueness and Arbitrariness: Merricks on Composition	Paper
Baxter (Donald L.M.)	Aspects and the Alteration of Temporal Simples	Paper	2
Belzer (Marvin)	Self-Conception and Personal Identity: Revisiting Parfit and Lewis with an Eye on the Grip of the Unity Reaction	Paper
Blackburn (Simon)	Quasi-Realism No Fictionalism	Paper	2, 3
Blatti (Stephan)	Review of 'The Rise and Fall of Soul and Self', by Raymond Martin and John Barresi	Paper	2	Yes
BonJour (Laurence)	Knowledge, Justification, and Truth: A Sellarsian Approach to Epistemology	Paper
Botros (Sophie)	A Realist Present and a Coherentist Past	Paper	2	Yes
Botros (Sophie)	Truth, Time and History - A Philosophical Inquiry with Dr Sophie Botros	Paper		Yes
Botros (Sophie)	Truth, Time and History: Bibliography	Paper		Yes
Braddon-Mitchell (David) & Miller (Kristie)	The Loneliness of Stages	Paper	2, 3
Bricker (Phillip)	Absolute Actuality and the Plurality of Worlds	Paper	2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
Bricker (Phillip)	Concrete Possible Worlds	Paper
Bricker (Phillip)	David Lewis: On the Plurality of Worlds	Paper	2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
Burke (Michael)	Is My Head a Person?	Paper	2	Yes
Butkovic (Ana)	Does Identity Really Matter? Parfit vs Lewis	Paper	2
Butterfield (Jeremy)	On the Persistence of Homogeneous Matter	Paper
Hanley (Richard)	The Metaphysics of Star Trek: Introduction: The Philosophic Enterprise	Paper		Yes
Hanley (Richard)	The Metaphysics of Star Trek: Temporal Distortions	Paper
Hershenov (David)	The Memory Criterion and the Problem of Backward Causation	Paper
Kolak (Daniel)	Room for a View: On the Metaphysical Subject of Personal Identity	Paper
Lewis (David)	N/A	Author	2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
Perry (John)	Time, Fission, and Personal Identity	Paper
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Chapter 01 (Introduction)	Paper	2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7	Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Chapter 05 (Persistence and Time)	Paper	2	Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Chapter 07 (The Constitution View and Arguments for It)	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Chapter 10 (Thought Experiments)	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Chapter 12 (Conclusion)	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Current Position	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Fission	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Methuselah	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Modality	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Personal Identity	Paper	2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9	Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Psychological Continuity	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Ship of Theseus	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Time	Paper		Yes

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References & Reading List

Author	Title	Medium	Source	Read?
Baker (Lynne Rudder)	Does Naturalism Rest on a Mistake?	Paper - Cited	American Philosophical Quarterly 48.2 (2011): 161-173	8%
Belzer (Marvin)	Self-Conception and Personal Identity: Revisiting Parfit and Lewis with an Eye on the Grip of the Unity Reaction	Paper - By Subtopic	Paul, Miller & Paul - Personal Identity, 2005	3%
Bricker (Phillip)	Absolute Actuality and the Plurality of Worlds	Paper - By Subtopic	Philosophical Perspectives, Vol. 20, Metaphysics (2006), pp. 41-76	No
Bricker (Phillip)	David Lewis: On the Plurality of Worlds	Paper - By Subtopic	Central Works of Philosophy, Volume 5: The Twentieth Century: Quine and After, Ed. John Shand, McGill, June 2006, pp. 246 - 267	No
Briggs (Rachael) & Nolan (Daniel)	Utility Monsters for the Fission Age	Paper - By Subtopic	Pacific Philosophical Quarterly, Volume96, Issue3, September 2015, Pages 392-407	No
Butkovic (Ana)	Does Identity Really Matter? Parfit vs Lewis	Paper - By Subtopic	ResearchGate, 2010	6%
Craig (William Lane)	McTaggart's Paradox and the Problem of Temporary Intrinsics	Paper - By Subtopic	Analysis, Vol. 58, No. 2 (Apr., 1998), pp. 122-127	33%
Funkhouser (Eric)	Metaphysics, Spring 2014	Book - Cited (via Paper Cited)	Bibliographical details to be supplied	94%
Funkhouser (Eric)	Notes on Lewis, 'Survival and Identity'	Paper - Cited	Funkhouser (Eric) - Metaphysics, Spring 2014	No
Hawley (Katherine)	David Lewis on Persistence	Paper - By Subtopic	Blackwell Companion to David Lewis, edited by Barry Loewer and Jonathan Schaffer, 2015	44%
Jackson (Frank) & Priest (Graham), Eds.	Lewisian Themes: The Philosophy of David K. Lewis	Book - Cited	Jackson (Frank) & Priest (Graham), Eds. - Lewisian Themes: The Philosophy of David K. Lewis	5%
Jubien (Michael)	Could This Be Magic?	Paper - By Subtopic	Philosophical Review, Vol. 100, No. 2, Apr., 1991, pp. 249-267	No
Lewis (David)	Attitudes De Dicto and De Se	Paper - Cited	Lewis - Philosophical Papers Volume I, Part 2: Philosophy of Mind, Chapter 10	Yes
Lewis (David)	Counterparts of Persons and Their Bodies	Paper - By Subtopic	Lewis - Philosophical Papers Volume I, Part 1: Ontology, Chapter 4	Yes
Lewis (David)	Individuation By Acquaintance and By Stipulation	Paper - By Subtopic	Lewis - Papers in Metaphysics and Epistemology	No
Lewis (David)	Papers in Metaphysics and Epistemology	Book - By Subtopic (via Paper By Subtopic)	Lewis (David) - Papers in Metaphysics and Epistemology	5%
Lewis (David)	Philosophical Papers Volume I	Book - Cited	Lewis (David) - Philosophical Papers Volume I	Yes
Lewis (David)	Philosophical Papers Volume II	Book - Cited	Lewis (David) - Philosophical Papers Volume II	15%
Lewis (David)	Survival and Identity	Paper - By Subtopic	Lewis - Philosophical Papers Volume I, Part 1: Ontology, Chapter 5	Yes
Lewis (David), Le Catt (Bruce)	Censored Vision	Paper - By Subtopic	Australasian Journal of Philosophy, Vol. 60, No. 2; June 1982	17%
Paganini (Elisa)	McTaggart, Lewis and the Problem of Temporary Intrinsics	Paper - By Subtopic	Penultimate draft 2015 - Final version published in in M. Szatkowski (ed.), God, Time, Infinity, Berlin/Boston, de Gruyter, pp. 163-170	33%
Paul (Ellen), Miller (Fred) & Paul (Jeffrey), Eds.	Personal Identity	Book - By Subtopic (via Paper By Subtopic)	Paul (Ellen), Miller (Fred) & Paul (Jeffrey), Eds. - Personal Identity	0%
Rettler (Bradley)	McTaggart and indexing the copula	Paper - By Subtopic	Philosophical Studies, Vol. 158, No. 3 (April 2012), pp. 431-434	33%
Roberts (Melinda)	Lewis's Theory Of Personal Identity	Paper - By Subtopic	Australasian Journal of Philosophy, 61, Number 1, March 1983, pp. 58-67(10).	No
Sider (Ted)	A New Grandfather Paradox?	Paper - By Subtopic	Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, Mar. 1997; 57(1): 139-144	No
So (Paul)	Lewis’ Personal Identity	Paper - By Subtopic	compos mentis: Undergraduate Journal of Cognition and Neuroethics 2 (1): 63–72. 2014	No
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Lewis	Paper - By Subtopic		Yes

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Text Colour Conventions

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

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