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Personal Identity

Semantics

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

Plug Note¹

• Thesis Text:
  1. We need to separate those issues in the topic of personal identity that turn on matters of fact, and those that just depend on the meaning of our words. Sometimes, it is not clear which of these options is assumed in any particular case.
  2. For instance, David Wiggins’s view (shared by many others) is that we should use the term Person² of individuals³ who belong to a kind⁴ whose typical members have certain capacities.
  3. This will allow us to use the term of individuals who don’t presently possess these capacities – which may be correct in the case of temporary loss of function – but also of those who never have and – most likely – never will possess them.
  4. Then, if we accord certain rights to Persons⁵ in this sense, we may act differently to some of those designated Persons⁶ than do those who only confer the title Person⁷ to those with the appropriate present (or normally-present) capacities.
  5. So, there is a practical difference. But is this difference generated only by confusion over words? If we adopt the “typical members” definition., then might we not then say that not all Persons have the same rights, and introduce a new term “Person⁸-Plus” for all of whose exemplars do deserve the rights? This would allow for Degrees of Personhood⁹ and, of course, the “typical members” definition may be adopted to resist this slide (as it might be seen).
  6. This will depend on whether Person¹⁰ is a natural kind¹¹ concept¹², and whether this kind strictly relates to Person or Person-Plus.
  7. My own view is that neither Person nor Person-Plus is a natural-kind concept, but is an honorific or description of properties possessed by exemplars of a true natural-kind concept – Human Animal¹³ or Human Being¹⁴.

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  Further Remarks:
  1. The above discussion overlaps with discussions in the following notes:-
     → Degrees of Personhood¹⁵
     → Forensic Property¹⁶
  2. The topic of Semantics in Linguistics is highly technical and not relevant to my researches. I’ve in general ignored the technical works in the reading lists below, except where I’ve read them!

References

• Relevant Works cited above: No items to list.
• For a Page of Links¹⁷ to this Note, Click here. Too many to be of much use, and almost all are irrelevant in any case.
• Works on this topic that I’ve actually read¹⁸, include the following (which include some that only touch on the topic tangentially):-
  • General:
    1. "Armstrong (David) - Introduction to Universals and Scientific Realism Vol. 1 (Nominalism and Realism)", 1977
    2. "Ayers (Michael R.) - Locke on 'Masses of Matter'", 1991, Annotations
    3. "Blackburn (Simon) & Simmons (Keith) - Truth: Introduction", 1999, Internal PDF Link
    4. "Blatti (Stephan) - Review of 'The Rise and Fall of Soul and Self', by Raymond Martin and John Barresi", 2008, External Link, Internal PDF Link
    5. "Block (Ned) - What Intuitions about Homunculi Don't Show", 1980
    6. "Cargile (James) - Review of Hintikka - Cogito, Ergo Sum: Inference or Performance?", 1968, Internal PDF Link
    7. "Dainton (Barry) - Time and Space: Preface", 2010
    8. "Dennett (Daniel) - True Believers: The Intentional Strategy and Why it Works", 1998, Write-Up Note¹⁹
    9. "Eagle (Anthony) - Telling Tales", 2006, Internal PDF Link
    10. "Fodor (Jerry) - Psychosemantics", 1987, Book
    11. "Gibbard (Allan) - Contingent Identity", 1997, Write-Up Note²⁰, Annotations, External Link, Internal PDF Link
    12. "Harnish (Robert M.) - Basic Topics in the Philosophy of Language: Introduction", 1993
    13. "Haugeland (John) - Semantics", 1989, No Abstract
    14. "Lewis (David) - General Semantics", 1970
    15. "Lewis (David) - Scorekeeping in a Language Game", 1979
    16. "Lewis (David) - 'Tensions", 1974
    17. "MacDonald (Cynthia) & MacDonald (Graham) - Connectionism: Debates in Psychological Explanation - Preface", 1995
    18. "Reid (Jasper) - Kripke on Naming and Necessity (Course Notes)", 2015, Internal PDF Link
    19. "Salmon (Nathan) - Reference and Essence - Prefaces & Introduction", 2005, External Link
    20. "Shapiro (Stewart) - Thinking about Mathematics: Preface", 2000
    21. "Unger (Peter) - The Physical Approach To Our Survival", 1992
    22. "Williams (Christopher) - Review of J.R.Lucas's 'The Future'", 1991, Internal PDF Link
    23. "Williamson (Timothy) - Vagueness: Preface + Introduction", 1994, Annotations
• A further reading list might start with₂₁:-
  • General:
    1. "Adams (Robert Merrihew) - Primitive Thisness and Primitive Identity", 1979, Internal PDF Link, Read = 11%
    2. "Baker (Lynne Rudder) - Seeming to See Red", 1990, External Link, Internal PDF Link, Read = 11%
    3. "Bermudez (Jose Luis) - Thinking Without Words: Preface", 2008, Read = 122%
    4. "Bird (Alexander) & Tobin (Emma) - Natural Kinds", 2008-17, External Link, Internal PDF Link, Read = 50%
    5. "Fodor (Jerry) - The Elm and the Expert - Mentalese and its Semantics", 1995, Book
    6. "Francescotti (Robert) - Statues and Their Constituents: Whether Consitution is Identity", 2003, Internal PDF Link
    7. "Koslicki (Kathrin) - The Semantics of Mass-Predicates", 1999, External Link, Internal PDF Link, Read = 5%
    8. "Millikan (Ruth Garrett) - Biosemantics", 1999
    9. "Papineau (David) - Teleosemantics and Indeterminacy", 1998, Internal PDF Link
    10. "Perry (John) - Semantics, Possible Worlds", Undated, 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-holder²².

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In-Page Footnotes:

Footnote 21:

• While I’ve started to cherry pick items from the ‘Page of Links’, few of them look of any relevance to my Thesis.
• I’ll revisit the list if I ever get round to investigating these matters further.

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Table of the Previous 9 Versions of this Note:

Date	Length	Title
20/09/2022 11:24:00	4576	Semantics
02/05/2022 23:44:10	4195	Semantics
17/02/2021 01:17:46	3889	Semantics
14/11/2020 12:41:46	3410	Semantics
14/07/2019 18:05:46	1421	Semantics
11/03/2018 20:19:41	2721	Semantics
18/12/2010 19:58:05	1114	Semantics
26/11/2007 23:25:26	1102	Semantics
12/08/2007 10:17:46	80	Semantics

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Note last updated	Reading List for this Topic	Parent Topic
06/07/2023 00:43:12	Semantics	Research - Proposal

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Summary of Notes Referenced by This Note

Awaiting Attention (Personal Identity)	Concepts	Degrees of Personhood	Dennett - True Believers	Forensic Property
Gibbard - Contingent Identity	Human Animals	Human Beings	Individual	Kinds
Natural Kinds	Note Links Explanation	Person	Plug Note Apologia	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

Concepts	Crane - Inverted Spectrum, Inverted Earth	Crane - Propositional Attitudes	Dennett - True Believers, 2	Person
PID Note, Book & Paper Usage, 2, 3, 4	Searle - Minds, Brains, and Programs	Thesis - Chapter 03 (What is a Person?)	Thesis - Chapter 04 (Basic Metaphysical Issues), 2, 3, 4, 5, 6	Thesis - Chapter 12 (Conclusion)
Thesis - Current Stance	Thesis - Personal Identity, 2, 3, 4, 5	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?
Armstrong (David)	Introduction to Universals and Scientific Realism Vol. 1 (Nominalism and Realism)	Paper	2	Yes
Ayers (Michael R.)	Locke on 'Masses of Matter'	Paper		Yes
Bermudez (Jose Luis)	Thinking Without Words: Preface	Paper
Bird (Alexander) & Tobin (Emma)	Natural Kinds	Paper	2, 3
Blatti (Stephan)	Review of 'The Rise and Fall of Soul and Self', by Raymond Martin and John Barresi	Paper		Yes
Block (Ned)	What Intuitions about Homunculi Don't Show	Paper		Yes
Cargile (James)	Review of Hintikka - Cogito, Ergo Sum: Inference or Performance?	Paper		Yes
Dainton (Barry)	Time and Space: Preface	Paper		Yes
Dennett (Daniel)	True Believers: The Intentional Strategy and Why it Works	Paper	2	Yes
Donnelly (John)	Suicide and Rationality	Paper
Eagle (Anthony)	Telling Tales	Paper		Yes
Gibbard (Allan)	Contingent Identity	Paper		Yes
Harnish (Robert M.)	Basic Topics in the Philosophy of Language: Introduction	Paper	2, 3	Yes
Hetherington (Stephen)	Gettier Problems	Paper		Yes
Lachmann (Michael) & Walker (Sara)	Life ≠ alive	Paper		Yes
Lewis (David)	General Semantics	Paper		Yes
Lewis (David)	Philosophical Papers Volume I: Introduction	Paper		Yes
Lewis (David)	Scorekeeping in a Language Game	Paper		Yes
Lewis (David)	'Tensions	Paper		Yes
MacDonald (Cynthia) & MacDonald (Graham)	Connectionism: Debates in Psychological Explanation - Preface	Paper	2	Yes
Magnus (Margaret)	Some Theoretical Stuff	Paper
Mahant (Nikhil)	Extraterrestrial tongues	Paper		Yes
Marshall (John C.)	Artificial Intelligence - the real thing?	Paper		Yes
Mellor (D.H.)	Real Time II: Introduction	Paper		Yes
Mellor (D.H.)	Real Time: Introduction and Summary	Paper		Yes
Rea (Michael), Ed.	Material Constitution - A Reader	Book
Salmon (Nathan)	Reference and Essence - Prefaces & Introduction	Paper	2, 3, 4	Yes
Searle (John)	Minds, Brains, and Programs	Paper		Yes
Shapiro (Stewart)	Thinking about Mathematics: Preface	Paper		Yes
Sklar (Lawrence)	Philosophy and Spacetime Physics: Introduction	Paper		Yes
Sturgeon (Scott)	Zombies and Ghosts	Paper	2, 3
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Chapter 03 (What is a Person?)	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Chapter 04 (Basic Metaphysical Issues)	Paper	2, 3, 4, 5, 6	Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Chapter 12 (Conclusion)	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Concepts	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Current Position	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Person	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Personal Identity	Paper	2, 3, 4, 5	Yes
Unger (Peter)	Precis of 'Identity, Consciousness and Value'	Paper		Yes
Unger (Peter)	The Physical Approach To Our Survival	Paper		Yes

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References & Reading List

Author	Title	Medium	Source	Read?
Adams (Fred)	Thoughts and Their Contents: Naturalized Semantics	Paper - By Subtopic	Stich & Warfield - Blackwell Guide to the Philosophy of Mind, 2003	No
Adams (Robert Merrihew)	Primitive Thisness and Primitive Identity	Paper - Cited	Journal of Philosophy. Jan 1979; 76: 5-26	11%
Armstrong (David)	Introduction to Universals and Scientific Realism Vol. 1 (Nominalism and Realism)	Paper - Cited	Armstrong - Universals and Scientific Realism (Vol. 1: Nominalism and Realism), 1977	Yes
Armstrong (David)	Universals and Scientific Realism (Vol. 1: Nominalism and Realism)	Book - Cited (via Paper Cited)	Bibliographical details to be supplied	6%
Baker (Lynne Rudder)	Seeming to See Red	Paper - Cited	Philosophical Studies, 58:121–28, 1990	11%
Brandom (Robert)	Making It Explicit: Reasoning, Representing & Discursive Commitment	Book - By Subtopic (via Paper By Subtopic)	Brandom (Robert) - Making It Explicit: Reasoning, Representing & Discursive Commitment	3%
Brandom (Robert)	Towards an Interential Semantics	Paper - By Subtopic	Brandom (Robert) - Making It Explicit: Reasoning, Representing & Discursive Commitment, 1994, Chapter 2	No
Campbell (Aifric)	The Semantics of Murder	Book - By Subtopic	Campbell (Aifric) - The Semantics of Murder	Yes
Carnap (Rudolf)	Empiricism, Semantics, and Ontology	Paper - By Subtopic	Linsky - Semantics and the Philosophy of Language - A Collection of Readings	30%
Castaneda (Hector-Neri)	The Semantics and the Causal Roles of Proper Names	Paper - By Subtopic	Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, Vol. 21, No. 1 (Sep., 1960), pp. 21-49	No
Cummins (Robert)	Interpretational Semantics	Paper - By Subtopic	Stich & Warfield - Mental Representation	No
Davies (Martin)	Individuation and the Semantics of Demonstratives	Paper - By Subtopic	Ludlow - Readings in the Philosophy of Language	No
DeWitt (Richard)	Vagueness, Semantics, and the Language of Thought (Review of Jerry Fodor, George Miller, & D. Terence Langendoen - Language of Thought )	Paper - By Subtopic	Psyche, 1(1), December 1993	No
Dretske (Fred)	Knowledge and the Flow of Information	Book - By Subtopic	Dretske (Fred) - Knowledge and the Flow of Information	10%
Fodor (Jerry)	Psychosemantics	Book - Cited	Fodor (Jerry) - Psychosemantics	Yes
Fodor (Jerry)	Psychosemantics: Creation Myth	Paper - By Subtopic	Fodor - Psychosemantics, Epilogue	Yes
Fodor (Jerry)	The Elm and the Expert - Mentalese and its Semantics	Book - Cited	Fodor (Jerry) - The Elm and the Expert - Mentalese and its Semantics	No
Fodor (Jerry) & Lepore (Ernie)	Paul Churchland and State Space Semantics	Paper - By Subtopic	McCauley - The Churchlands and Their Critics	No
Hintikka (Jaakko) & Kulas (Jack)	The Game of Language: Studies in Game-Theoretical semantics and Its Applications	Book - By Subtopic	Hintikka (Jaakko) & Kulas (Jack) - The Game of Language: Studies in Game-Theoretical semantics and Its Applications	No
Hintikka (Jaakko) & Kulas (Jack)	The Game of Language: Studies in Game-Theoretical semantics and Its Applications	Paper - By Subtopic	Hintikka (Jaakko) & Kulas (Jack) - The Game of Language: Studies in Game-Theoretical semantics and Its Applications	No
Lepore (Ernie)	What Model-Theoretic Semantics Cannot Do	Paper - By Subtopic	Ludlow - Readings in the Philosophy of Language	No
Linsky (Leonard), Ed.	Semantics and the Philosophy of Language - A Collection of Readings	Book - By Subtopic (via Paper By Subtopic)	Linsky (Leonard), Ed. - Semantics and the Philosophy of Language - A Collection of Readings	1%
Livingston (Paisley) & Sauchelli (Andrea)	Philosophical perspectives on fictional characters	Paper - By Subtopic	New Literary History, Volume 42, Number 2, Spring 2011, pp. 337-360	10%
Loewer (Barry)	The role of 'Conceptual role semantics': comments on Harman's paper	Paper - By Subtopic	Notre Dame J. Formal Logic 23, no. 3 (1982), 305–315	No
Ludlow (Peter), Ed.	Readings in the Philosophy of Language	Book - By Subtopic (via Paper By Subtopic)	Ludlow (Peter), Ed. - Readings in the Philosophy of Language	2%
Martin (Michael G.F.), Ed.	Mind - 114/454 (April 2005)	Book - By Subtopic (via Paper By Subtopic)	Martin (Michael G.F.), Ed. - Mind - 114/454 (April 2005)	No
McCauley (Robert), Ed.	The Churchlands and Their Critics	Book - By Subtopic (via Paper By Subtopic)	McCauley (Robert), Ed. - The Churchlands and Their Critics	No
Millikan (Ruth Garrett)	An Input Condition for Teleosemantics? Reply to Shea (and Godfrey-Smith)	Paper - By Subtopic	Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, Vol. LXXV No. 2, September	6%
Osherson (Daniel), Gleitman (Lila) & Liberman (Mark)	Invitation to Cognitive Science (Vol. 1 - Language)	Book - By Subtopic (via Paper By Subtopic)	Osherson (Daniel), Gleitman (Lila) & Liberman (Mark) - Invitation to Cognitive Science (Vol. 1 - Language)	No
Parsons (Terence)	A Meinongian Analysis of Fictional Objects	Paper - By Subtopic	Grazer Philosophische Studien, Volume 1: Issue 1, 1975, pp. 73-86	17%
Parsons (Terence)	A Prolegomenon to Meinongian Semantics	Paper - By Subtopic	Journal of Philosophy, Vol. 71, No. 16 (Sep. 19, 1974), pp. 561-580	11%
Partee (Barbara)	Lexical Semantics and Compositionality	Paper - By Subtopic	Osherson - Invitation to Cognitive Science (Vol. 1 - Language)	No
Perry (John)	Semantics, Situation	Paper - By Subtopic	Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy	No
Proudfoot (Diane)	Possible Worlds Semantics and Fiction	Paper - By Subtopic	Journal of Philosophical Logic, Vol. 35, No. 1 (Feb., 2006), pp. 9-40	4%
Putnam (Hilary)	Is Semantics Possible?	Paper - By Subtopic	Putnam - Philosophical Papers 2 - Mind, Language and Reality	No
Putnam (Hilary)	Philosophical Papers 2 - Mind, Language and Reality	Book - By Subtopic (via Paper By Subtopic)	Putnam (Hilary) - Philosophical Papers 2 - Mind, Language and Reality	No
Rapoport (Anatol)	Semantics	Book - By Subtopic	Rapoport (Anatol) - Semantics	No
Stich (Stephen) & Warfield (Ted), Eds.	Blackwell Guide to the Philosophy of Mind	Book - By Subtopic (via Paper By Subtopic)	Stich (Stephen) & Warfield (Ted), Eds. - Blackwell Guide to the Philosophy of Mind	5%
Stich (Stephen) & Warfield (Ted), Eds.	Mental Representation: A Reader	Book - By Subtopic (via Paper By Subtopic)	Stich (Stephen) & Warfield (Ted), Eds. - Mental Representation: A Reader	1%
Thomasson (Amie L.)	Fiction and Intentionality	Paper - By Subtopic	Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, Vol. 56, No. 2 (Jun., 1996), pp. 277-298	6%
Thomasson (Amie L.)	Fiction, Modality and Dependent Abstracta	Paper - By Subtopic	Philosophical Studies, Vol. 84, No. 2/3, Possibilism and Actualism (Dec., 1996), pp. 295-320	10%
Thomasson (Amie L.)	Speaking of Fictional Characters	Paper - By Subtopic	Dialectica, Vol. 57, No. 2, Special Issue: Do Ficta Follow Fiction? (2003), pp. 205-223	6%
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Semantics	Paper - By Subtopic		Yes
Weiner (Joan)	Semantic Descent	Paper - By Subtopic	Mind, 114, Number 454, April 2005, pp. 321-354(34)	No

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