Theo Todman's Web Page - Notes Pages
Personal Identity
Non-Human Persons
(Text as at 06/07/2023 00:43:12)
Plug Note1
- Thesis Text:
- Amongst philosophers, if not amongst the general populace, it is usually taken for granted that there can be persons who are not human beings2. The usual candidates are:-
- Extinct Hominids, where these are not categorised as “human” (see the Note on Homo Sapiens3 for a discussion of Neanderthals; there’s a question whether Neanderthals ought to be categorised as human persons4or non-human persons).
- The higher Non-human Animals5, especially the Great Apes,
- Aliens,
- Angels,
- God,
- gods,
- Androids6 (or appropriately-configured Robots),
- Cyborgs7, at least those with silicon8 (or other inorganic) brains9 (those with human brains will, naturally, be human persons10).
- Computers11 – or computer programs – or the combination thereof – of appropriate structure and complexity.
- See also my discussions of Transhumanism12, and Uploading13 for further consideration of various of the above.
- Angels and aliens are discussed in "Wiggins (David) - Reply to Snowdon (Persons and Personal Identity)" and the claim is that insofar as we can conceptualise them, they are animals14. Wiggins also discusses robot-persons15. If, in order to satisfy the conditions of personhood, these end up as molecule-by-molecule clones16 of animals, these are animals also. So – with the possible exception of God and gods – Wiggins doesn’t think there are counter-examples to the supposition that all persons are animals.
- The question is whether these candidates can be persons, and what – if they can – this fact tells us about what persons are.
Further Remarks:
- It may be necessary to create Notes for those Non-human candidates for personhood that do not currently have them.
- Other notes cover
→ Persons17 and
→ Human Persons18.
References
- Relevant Works cited above:
- "Wiggins (David) - Reply to Snowdon (Persons and Personal Identity)", 1996, No Abstract, Read
- For a Page of Links19 to this Note, Click here.
- Works on this topic that I’ve actually read20, include the following:-
- General:
- "Cottingham (John) - Why we are not 'persons'", 2018, Annotations, External Link, Internal PDF Link
- "Garrett (Brian) - Personal Identity and Reductionism", 1991, Write-Up Note21, Annotations, Internal PDF Link
- "Wiggins (David) - Reply to Snowdon (Persons and Personal Identity)", 1996, No Abstract
- A further reading list might start with:-
- General:
- "Fetzer (James) - The Evolution of Intelligence: Are Humans the Only Animals with Minds?", 2005, Book, Read = 3%
- "Francione (Gary) - Animals as Persons: Essays on the Abolition of Animal Exploitation", 2009, Book, Read = 7%
- "Hurley (Susan) & Nudds (Matthew) - Rational Animals?", 2006, Book, Read = 6%
- "Kurzweil (Ray) - The Age of Spiritual Machines", 1999, Book
- "Leiber (Justin) - Can Animals and Machines Be Persons? : A Dialogue", 1985, Book, Footnote22
- "Noller (Jorg) - Person", 2019, External Link, Internal PDF Link, Read = 25%
- "Puccetti (Roland) - Persons: A Study of Possible Moral Agents in the Universe", 1969, Book, Read = 2%
- "Ross (Don) - Consciousness, language, and the possibility of non-human personhood: Reflections on elephants", 2019, Internal PDF Link, Read = 11%
- "Rovane (Carol) - Self-Reference: The Radicalization of Locke", 1992, Internal PDF Link
- "Savage-Rumbaugh (E.Sue) & Lewin (Roger) - Kanzi: Ape at the Brink of the Human Mind", 1994, Book, Read = 2%
- "Van Inwagen (Peter) & Zimmerman (Dean) - Persons: Human and Divine", 2007, Book, Read = 3%
- 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-holder23.
In-Page Footnotes:
Footnote 22:
- This is very elementary, but short and maybe entertaining.
Table of the Previous 6 Versions of this Note:
| Note last updated |
Reading List for this Topic |
Parent Topic |
| 06/07/2023 00:43:12 |
None available |
Person |
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
| Baker - Persons and Bodies (Book Summary) |
Garrett - Personal Identity and Reductionism |
Homo Sapiens |
Human Persons, 2 |
Intelligence, 2 |
| Jen_070928_N2, 2 |
Jen_080218 (Olson) |
Person |
PID Note, Book & Paper Usage, 2, 3, 4 |
Siliconisation |
| Thesis - Chapter 03 (What is a Person?), 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 |
Thesis - Chapter 06 (Animalism and Arguments for It) |
Thesis - Chapter 12 (Conclusion) |
Thesis - Current Stance |
Thesis - Personal Identity, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 |
| Transhumanism |
Website Generator Documentation - Functors, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 |
|
|
|
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? |
| Cottingham (John) |
Why we are not 'persons' |
Paper  |
|
Yes |
| Garrett (Brian) |
Personal Identity and Reductionism |
Paper |
|
Yes |
| Noller (Jorg) |
Person |
Paper |
|
|
| Rovane (Carol) |
Self-Reference: The Radicalization of Locke |
Paper |
2 |
|
| Todman (Theo) |
Thesis - Chapter 03 (What is a Person?) |
Paper |
2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 |
Yes |
| Todman (Theo) |
Thesis - Chapter 06 (Animalism and Arguments for It) |
Paper |
|
Yes |
| Todman (Theo) |
Thesis - Chapter 12 (Conclusion) |
Paper |
|
Yes |
| Todman (Theo) |
Thesis - Current Position |
Paper |
|
Yes |
| Todman (Theo) |
Thesis - Homo Sapiens |
Paper |
|
Yes |
| Todman (Theo) |
Thesis - Human Persons |
Paper |
2 |
Yes |
| Todman (Theo) |
Thesis - Intelligence |
Paper |
2 |
Yes |
| Todman (Theo) |
Thesis - Person |
Paper |
|
Yes |
| Todman (Theo) |
Thesis - Personal Identity |
Paper  |
2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 |
Yes |
| Todman (Theo) |
Thesis - Siliconisation |
Paper |
|
Yes |
| Todman (Theo) |
Thesis - Transhumanism |
Paper |
|
Yes |
References & Reading List
| Author |
Title |
Medium |
Source |
Read? |
| Cottingham (John) |
Why we are not 'persons' |
Paper - Cited |
Eidos: A Journal for Philosophy of Culture 1:3 (2018), pp. 5-16 |
Yes |
| Fetzer (James) |
The Evolution of Intelligence: Are Humans the Only Animals with Minds? |
Book - Cited |
Fetzer (James) - The Evolution of Intelligence: Are Humans the Only Animals with Minds? |
3% |
| Garrett (Brian) |
Personal Identity and Reductionism |
Paper - Cited |
Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 51, No. 2, Jun., 1991, pp. 361-373 |
Yes |
| Garrett (Brian) |
Personal Identity and Reductionism |
Paper - Referencing |
Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 51, No. 2, Jun., 1991, pp. 361-373 |
Yes |
| Lovibond (Sabina) & Williams (S.G.) |
Identity, Truth & Value: Essays for David Wiggins |
Book - Cited (via Paper Cited) |
Bibliographical details to be supplied |
10% |
| Noller (Jorg) |
Person |
Paper - Cited |
Online Encyclopedia Philosophy of Nature – OEPN, 2019 |
25% |
| Ross (Don) |
Consciousness, language, and the possibility of non-human personhood: Reflections on elephants |
Paper - Cited |
Forthcoming (as of 16 January 2019) in Journal of Consciousness Studies |
11% |
| Rovane (Carol) |
Self-Reference: The Radicalization of Locke |
Paper - Cited |
Journal of Philosophy 90.2, Feb. 1992, pp. 73-97 |
No |
| Wiggins (David) |
Reply to Snowdon (Persons and Personal Identity) |
Paper - Cited |
Lovibond & Williams - Identity, Truth & Value: Essays for David Wiggins, 1996 |
Yes |
Text Colour Conventions
- Blue: Text by me; © Theo Todman, 2026