Theo Todman's Web Page - Notes Pages
Personal Identity
Homo Sapiens
(Text as at 12/08/2007 10:17:46)
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This page probably ought to say something about species, their reality and their status as natural kind1 concepts.
I don’t think it’s a conceptual truth that the only persons are human persons. Consequently, I do not deny personhood to extinct hominids, or (possibly) to the great apes, dolphins, Klingons, machines, gods, angels and such-like. However, I do think it’s an empirical truth that the only persons whose personhood we reliably know anything about are human persons, so think we should start there. Also, my main interest is in human persons, so this will be my initial focus. Since, I will need to consider whether human persons can exist in non-human bodies2 (transmigration3, mechanisation4, resurrection5 bodies) or even as disembodied6 minds7, so I will need to move on from this base camp.
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