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Personal Identity

Homo Sapiens

(Work In Progress: output at 09/12/2025 01:10:34)

Plug Note¹

• Thesis Text:
  1. If animalism² is correct – and we are human animals³ – then we are members of the species homo sapiens.
  2. Consequently, we need to say something about the nature of species, their reality and their status as natural kind⁴ concepts.
  3. Also relevant is Stephan Blatti’s “Animal Ancestors” Argument for Animalism (see "Blatti (Stephan) - A New Argument for Animalism", etc.).
  4. So, we must also investigate human evolution⁵, and investigate answers to the question of just when our hominid ancestors became persons⁶.
  5. I also note the discussions on Neanderthals and their relation to – and possible interbreeding with – modern humans. Were Neanderthals persons⁷, and were they human persons⁸, or examples of non-human persons⁹?
  6. If this interbreeding was actual – and it is claimed that 4% of the non-African human genome is Neanderthal (see the end of "Kohn (Marek) - The Neanderthal mind") – what has this to say about the status of Neanderthals? If they could interbreed with modern humans and produce fertile offspring, how could they be a separate species to homo sapiens? See "Wikipedia - Neanderthal", where there’s doubt over whether the Neanderthals should be designated Homo neanderthalensis or Homo sapiens neanderthalensis; ie. as a separate species or as a sub-species of modern humans.
  7. The two books I have on Neanderthals are rather old, though both get a decent write-up on Amazon:-
     → "Shreeve (James) - The Neanderthal Enigma - Solving the Enigma of Modern Human Origins", and
     → "Trinkaus (Erik) & Shipman (Pat) - The Neanderthals - Changing the Image of Mankind"
  8. As these ancestors are all gone, investigation of the capacities of our nearest neighbours – the great apes – must often make do as a proxy, though consideration of these will be covered by what I have to say on Animal Rights¹⁰.
  9. I just note here the contentions – in "Diamond (Jared) - The Rise and Fall of the Third Chimpanzee: How Our Animal Heritage Affects the Way We Live" – that the genus “homo” ought to include chimpanzees and gorillas.
  10. I also note the extremely negative stance towards simians by "Rowlands (Mark) - The Philosopher and the Wolf". This should be contrasted with Baker¹¹’s equally extreme positive view.
  11. I don’t think it’s a conceptual truth that the only persons are human persons¹². However, I do think it’s an empirical truth that the only persons whose personhood we reliably know anything about are human persons, members of the species homo sapiens, so think we should start there.

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  Further Remarks:
  1. See a couple of “items read” below, and some religious speculation:-
     • "Alexander (Denis) - Who were Adam and Eve? Genesis and Science in Conversation",
     • "Conway Morris (Simon) - Darwin’s Compass: How Evolution Discovers the Song of Creation",
  2. Finally, some discussion of the evolution¹³ of language:-
     • "Roeper (Tom) & Keyser (Samuel Jay) - The Prism of Grammar: Foreward & Preface",
     • "Lieberman (Philip) - Eve Spoke - Human Language and Human Evolution".

References

• Relevant Works cited above:
  1. "Alexander (Denis) - Who were Adam and Eve? Genesis and Science in Conversation", 2008, Read
  2. "Blatti (Stephan) - A New Argument for Animalism", 2012, External Link, Internal PDF Link, Read = 67%
  3. "Conway Morris (Simon) - Darwin’s Compass: How Evolution Discovers the Song of Creation", 2005, External Link, Read
  4. "Diamond (Jared) - The Rise and Fall of the Third Chimpanzee: How Our Animal Heritage Affects the Way We Live", 1991, Book, Read = 1%
  5. "Kohn (Marek) - The Neanderthal mind", 2013, External Link, Internal PDF Link, Read
  6. "Lieberman (Philip) - Eve Spoke - Human Language and Human Evolution", 1998, Book
  7. "Roeper (Tom) & Keyser (Samuel Jay) - The Prism of Grammar: Foreward & Preface", 2007, Read
  8. "Shreeve (James) - The Neanderthal Enigma - Solving the Enigma of Modern Human Origins", 1995, Book
  9. "Trinkaus (Erik) & Shipman (Pat) - The Neanderthals - Changing the Image of Mankind", 1993, Book
  10. "Wikipedia - Neanderthal", 2023, External Link, Read = 3%
• For a Page of Links¹⁴ to this Note, Click here.
• Works on this topic that I’ve actually read¹⁵, include the following:-
  • Aeon:
    1. "Kohn (Marek) - The Neanderthal mind", 2013, External Link, Internal PDF Link
  • General:
    1. "Aaronovitch (David), Harari (Yuval Noah) - Interview with Yuval Noah Harari", 2018, Internal PDF Link
    2. "Alexander (Denis) - Who were Adam and Eve? Genesis and Science in Conversation", 2008
    3. "Conway Morris (Simon) - Darwin’s Compass: How Evolution Discovers the Song of Creation", 2005, External Link
    4. "Conway Morris (Simon) - Life's Solution: Inevitable Humans in a Lonely Universe (Preface)", 2003
    5. "Harari (Yuval Noah) - Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind", 2015, Book
    6. "Krause (Johannes) - Our Ancestral Cave Gets More Crowded", 2010
    7. "McKie (Robin) - Out of Africa: The Sequel", 2010, Internal PDF Link
    8. "Olson (Eric) - Human People Or Human Animals", 1995, Annotations, Internal PDF Link
    9. "Olson (Eric) - The Human Animal - Personal Identity Without Psychology", 1997, Book
    10. "Roeper (Tom) & Keyser (Samuel Jay) - The Prism of Grammar: Foreward & Preface", 2007
    11. "Rowlands (Mark) - The Philosopher and the Wolf", Book
• A further reading list might start with:-
  • General:
    1. "Berry (R.J.) & Noble (T.A.) - Darwin, Creation and the Fall", 2009, Book, Read = 4%
    2. "Blatti (Stephan) - A New Argument for Animalism", 2012, External Link, Internal PDF Link, Read = 67%
    3. "De Waal (Frans) - Our Inner Ape: The Best and Worst of Human Nature", 2005, Book, Read = 1%
    4. "De Waal (Frans) - Primates and Philosophers: How Morality Evolved", 2006, Book, Read = 1%
    5. "De Waal (Frans) - The Ape and the Sushi Master: Cultural Reflections of a Primatologist", 2001, Book, Read = 7%
    6. "Diamond (Jared) - The Rise and Fall of the Third Chimpanzee: How Our Animal Heritage Affects the Way We Live", 1991, Book, Read = 1%
    7. "Eccles (John) - Evolution of the Brain, Creation of the Self", 1991, Book, Read = 2%
    8. "Ghiselin (Michael) - Metaphysics and the Origin of Species", 1997, Book, Read = 1%
    9. "Hartl (Daniel L.) - Our Uncertain Heritage: Genetics & Human Diversity", 1985, Book, Read = 1%
    10. "Johanson (Donald) & Shreeve (James) - Lucy's Child: The Discovery of a Human Ancestor", 1989, Book
    11. "Kitcher (Patricia) - Natural Kinds and Unnatural Persons", 1979, Internal PDF Link
    12. "LaPorte (Joseph) - Essential Membership", 1997, Internal PDF Link
    13. "Lieberman (Philip) - Eve Spoke - Human Language and Human Evolution", 1998, Book
    14. "Pearce (E.K. Victor) - Review of 'Kanzi: Ape at the Brink of the Human Mind' by Sue Savage-Rumbaugh & Roger Lewin", 1995, Read = 133%
    15. "Savage-Rumbaugh (E.Sue) & Lewin (Roger) - Kanzi: Ape at the Brink of the Human Mind", 1994, Book, Read = 2%
    16. "Schick (Kathy D.) & Toth (Nicholas) - Making Silent Stones Speak: Human Evolution and the Dawn of Technology", 1993, Book
    17. "Shreeve (James) - The Neanderthal Enigma - Solving the Enigma of Modern Human Origins", 1995, Book
    18. "Suddendorf (Thomas) - The Gap", 2014, Book
    19. "Tattersall (Ian), Delson (Eric) & Van Couvering (John), Eds. - Encyclopaedia of Human Evolution and Prehistory", 1988, Book
    20. "Trinkaus (Erik) & Shipman (Pat) - The Neanderthals - Changing the Image of Mankind", 1993, Book
    21. "Wikipedia - Neanderthal", 2023, External Link, Read = 3%
    22. "Young (J.Z.) - An Introduction to the Study of Man", 1971, Book

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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-holder¹⁶.

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Table of the Previous 8 Versions of this Note:

Date	Length	Title
06/07/2023 00:43:12	4912	Homo Sapiens
20/09/2022 11:24:00	4272	Homo Sapiens
06/05/2022 12:50:24	3873	Homo Sapiens
12/02/2021 15:44:38	4010	Homo Sapiens
29/05/2020 21:33:07	3434	Homo Sapiens
28/02/2018 18:40:19	3439	Homo Sapiens
18/12/2010 19:58:05	961	Homo Sapiens
12/08/2007 10:17:46	863	Homo Sapiens

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Note last updated	Reading List for this Topic	Parent Topic
01/04/2026 09:32:31	Homo Sapiens	Animalism

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Summary of Notes Referenced by This Note

Animal Rights	Animalism	Awaiting Attention (Personal Identity)	Baker	Evolution
Human Animals	Human Persons	Natural Kinds	Non-Human Persons	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

Artifacts	Baker - Materialism with a Human Face	Baker - Persons in the Material World, 2, 3	Baker - The Importance Of Being a Person	Death
DeGrazia - Are We Essentially Persons?	Evolution	Human Animals, 2	Human Beings	Human Persons
Non-Human Persons	Noonan - Persons and Bodies - Response	Olson - What Are We? Animals, 2	Olson - What Are We? The Question	PID Note, Book & Paper Usage, 2, 3
Research - Proposal	Siliconisation	Thesis - Chapter 02 (What are We?)	Thesis - Chapter 03 (What is a Person?), 2	Thesis - Chapter 04 (Basic Metaphysical Issues)
Thesis - Chapter 06 (Animalism and Arguments for It), 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7	Thesis - Chapter 11 (Resurrection)	Thesis - Chapter 12 (Conclusion)	Thesis - Current Stance	Thesis - Personal Identity, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
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?
Aeon	Video - The ancient hookup that changed humanity	Paper		Yes
Baker (Lynne Rudder)	Persons in the Material World	Paper	2, 3	Yes
Baker (Lynne Rudder)	The Importance Of Being a Person	Paper		Yes
Baker (Lynne Rudder)	When Do Persons Begin and End?	Paper		Yes
Cottingham (John)	Why we are not 'persons'	Paper		Yes
Dainton (Barry)	Self: Philosophy In Transit: Prologue	Paper		Yes
DeGrazia (David)	Are we essentially persons? Olson, Baker, and a reply	Paper		Yes
Fine (Cordelia) & Hooven (Carole)	Does testosterone make men?	Paper		Yes
Hudson (Hud)	I am Not an Animal!	Paper
Longrich (Nick)	The other Homo sapiens	Paper		Yes
Lyons (Siobhan)	Death and the Machine: Intersections of Mortality and Robotics	Book		Yes
Mithen (Steven)	This is what a Neanderthal conversation would have sounded like	Paper		Yes
Noonan (Harold)	Arguments Against Animalism: Comments on L.R.Baker 'Persons & Bodies'	Paper		Yes
Olson (Eric)	What Are We? Animals	Paper	2	Yes
Olson (Eric)	What Are We? The Question	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Artifacts	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Chapter 02 (What Are We?)	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Chapter 03 (What is a Person?)	Paper	2	Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Chapter 04 (Basic Metaphysical Issues)	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Chapter 06 (Animalism and Arguments for It)	Paper	2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7	Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Chapter 11 (Resurrection)	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Chapter 12 (Conclusion)	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Current Position	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Death	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Evolution	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Human Animals	Paper	2	Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Human Beings	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Human Persons	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Non-Human Persons	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Personal Identity	Paper	2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10	Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Siliconisation	Paper		Yes
Zellmer (Jacob)	Baffled by human diversity	Paper		Yes

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References & Reading List

Author	Title	Medium	Source	Read?
Aaronovitch (David), Harari (Yuval Noah)	Interview with Yuval Noah Harari	Paper - Cited	Time Magazine, Saturday 4th August 2018	Yes
Alexander (Denis)	Creation or Evolution: Do We Have to Choose?	Book - Cited (via Paper Cited)	Bibliographical details to be supplied	Yes
Alexander (Denis)	Who were Adam and Eve? Genesis and Science in Conversation	Paper - Cited	Alexander (Denis) - Creation or Evolution: Do We Have to Choose? 2008, Chapter 10	Yes
Berry (R.J.) & Noble (T.A.)	Darwin, Creation and the Fall	Book - Cited	Berry (R.J.) & Noble (T.A.) - Darwin, Creation and the Fall	4%
Blatti (Stephan)	A New Argument for Animalism	Paper - Cited	Analysis Vol 72, Number 4, October 2012, pp. 685–690	33%
Conway Morris (Simon)	Darwin’s Compass: How Evolution Discovers the Song of Creation	Paper - Cited	St. Mary Le Bow Website; Robert Boyle Lecture 2005	Yes
Conway Morris (Simon)	Life's Solution: Inevitable Humans in a Lonely Universe	Book - Cited (via Paper Cited)	Bibliographical details to be supplied	4%
Conway Morris (Simon)	Life's Solution: Inevitable Humans in a Lonely Universe (Preface)	Paper - Cited	Morris (Simon Conway) - Life's Solution: Inevitable Humans in a Lonely Universe, Preface	Yes
Diamond (Jared)	The Rise and Fall of the Third Chimpanzee: How Our Animal Heritage Affects the Way We Live	Book - Cited	Diamond (Jared) - The Rise and Fall of the Third Chimpanzee: How Our Animal Heritage Affects the Way We Live	1%
Harari (Yuval Noah)	Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow	Book - By Subtopic	Harari (Yuval Noah) - Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow	Yes
Harari (Yuval Noah)	Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow	Paper - By Subtopic	Harari (Yuval Noah) - Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow	Yes
Harari (Yuval Noah)	Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind	Book - Cited	Harari (Yuval Noah) - Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind	Yes
Harari (Yuval Noah)	Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind	Paper - By Subtopic	Harari (Yuval Noah) - Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind	Yes
Johanson (Donald) & Shreeve (James)	Lucy's Child: The Discovery of a Human Ancestor	Book - By Subtopic	Johanson (Donald) & Shreeve (James) - Lucy's Child: The Discovery of a Human Ancestor	No
Kohn (Marek)	The Neanderthal mind	Paper - Cited	Aeon, 15 May 2013	Yes
Krause (Johannes)	Our Ancestral Cave Gets More Crowded	Paper - Cited	Guardian Weekly, 02/04/2010	Yes
Lieberman (Philip)	Eve Spoke - Human Language and Human Evolution	Book - Cited	Lieberman (Philip) - Eve Spoke - Human Language and Human Evolution	No
McKie (Robin)	Out of Africa: The Sequel	Paper - Cited	Guardian Weekly, 05/03/2010 (originally from the Observer)	Yes
Olson (Eric)	Human People Or Human Animals	Paper - Cited	Philosophical Studies 80:159-181, 1995	Yes
Olson (Eric)	Papers on Identity Boxes: Vol 13 (Olson)	Book - Cited (via Paper Cited)	Bibliographical details to be supplied	16%
Olson (Eric)	The Human Animal - Personal Identity Without Psychology	Book - Cited	Olson (Eric) - The Human Animal - Personal Identity Without Psychology	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? Animals	Paper - Referencing	What Are We? A Study in Personal Ontology, Chapter 2 (November 2007: Oxford University Press.)	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
Roeper (Tom)	The Prism of Grammar: How Child Language Illuminates Humanism	Book - Cited (via Paper Cited)	Bibliographical details to be supplied	6%
Roeper (Tom) & Keyser (Samuel Jay)	The Prism of Grammar: Foreward & Preface	Paper - Cited	Roeper (Tom) - The Prism of Grammar: How Child Language Illuminates Humanism, 2007	Yes
Rowlands (Mark)	The Philosopher and the Wolf	Book - Cited	Rowlands (Mark) - The Philosopher and the Wolf	Yes
Savage-Rumbaugh (E.Sue) & Lewin (Roger)	Kanzi: Ape at the Brink of the Human Mind	Book - By Subtopic	Savage-Rumbaugh (E.Sue) & Lewin (Roger) - Kanzi: Ape at the Brink of the Human Mind	2%
Schick (Kathy D.) & Toth (Nicholas)	Making Silent Stones Speak: Human Evolution and the Dawn of Technology	Book - By Subtopic	Schick (Kathy D.) & Toth (Nicholas) - Making Silent Stones Speak: Human Evolution and the Dawn of Technology	No
Shreeve (James)	The Neanderthal Enigma - Solving the Enigma of Modern Human Origins	Book - Cited	Shreeve (James) - The Neanderthal Enigma - Solving the Enigma of Modern Human Origins	No
Tattersall (Ian), Delson (Eric) & Van Couvering (John), Eds.	Encyclopaedia of Human Evolution and Prehistory	Book - By Subtopic	Tattersall (Ian), Delson (Eric) & Van Couvering (John), Eds. - Encyclopaedia of Human Evolution and Prehistory	No
Tattersall (Ian), Delson (Eric) & Van Couvering (John), Eds.	Encyclopaedia of Human Evolution and Prehistory	Paper - By Subtopic	Tattersall, Delson & Van Couvering - Encyclopaedia of Human Evolution and Prehistory	No
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Artifacts	Paper - Referencing		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Chapter 04 (Basic Metaphysical Issues)	Paper - Referencing		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Homo Sapiens	Paper - By Subtopic		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Personal Identity	Paper - Referencing		Yes
Trinkaus (Erik) & Shipman (Pat)	The Neanderthals - Changing the Image of Mankind	Book - Cited	Trinkaus (Erik) & Shipman (Pat) - The Neanderthals - Changing the Image of Mankind	No
Wikipedia	Neanderthal	Paper - Cited	Wikipedia; Extract taken 27 March 2023	3%

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Text Colour Conventions

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

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