Theo Todman's Web Page - Notes Pages
Personal Identity
Fusion
(Text as at 15/02/2018 22:00:29)
*** THIS IS NOT THE LATEST VERSION OF THIS NOTE ***
(For the live version and other versions of this Note, see the tables at the end)
Plug Note1
- Like Fission2, though to a lesser degree, Fusion is important in the philosophy of identity – especially of personal identity – in that it provides many thought-experiments3 (TEs), and some real-life examples, that test out the various theories.
- We need to consider the merger of the two psychologies4: Parfit thinks we might like to inherit some of the better characteristics of our partner, as in a marriage – but the creation of a single consciousness5 from two seems difficult to conceive of (much more so than the creation of two consciousnesses from one, as in fission). Do we end up with a single first-person perspective6, or with two? This needs to be related to multiple personality disorder7. Also, consider Parfit’s8 seasonal people that alternately fission and fuse. How conceivable are these TEs?
- We also need to consider physical as well as psychological fusions, as in the case of the dicephalus9 and brain transplants10.
- There may be some overlap between this note and those on Mereology11, and Constitution12, which deal with the fusion of parts into a whole.
- Works on this topic that I’ve actually read13, include14 the following:-
- "Hawley (Katherine) - Fission, Fusion and Intrinsic Facts", Hawley
- A reading list (where not covered elsewhere) might start with:-
- "Hudson (Hud) - On Constitution and All-Fusions", Hudson
- "Lowe (E.J.) - Identity Over Time and Change Of Composition", Lowe
- "McGrath (Matthew) - Four-Dimensionalism and the Puzzles of Coincidence", McGrath
- "McInerney (Peter K.) - Conceptions of Persons and Persons through Time", McInerney
- "Miller (Kristie) - Issues of Composition", Miller
- "Ord (Toby) - Implications of fission, fusion and teletransportation to a view of personal identity through psychological continuity", Ord
- "Tanksley (Charley) - The Mereological Constancy Of Masses", Tanksley
- "Wright (John) - Personal Identity, Fission and Time Travel", Wright
- "Van Inwagen (Peter) - Composition As Identity", Van Inwagen
- This is mostly a place-holder15.
In-Page Footnotes
Footnote 1:
- A number of my philosophical Notes are “promissory notes” currently only listing the books and papers (if any) I possess on the topic concerned.
- I’ve decided to add some text – whether by way of motivation, or something more substantive – for all these identified topics related to my Thesis.
- As I want to do this fairly quickly, the text may be confused or show surprising ignorance.
- The reader (if such exists) will have to bear with me, and display the principle of charity while this footnote exists.
Footnote 13:
- Frequently I’ll have made copious marginal annotations, and sometimes have written up a review-note.
- In the former case, I intend to transfer the annotations into electronic form as soon as I can find the time.
- In the latter case, I will have remarked on the fact against the citation, and will integrate the comments into this Note in due course.
- My intention is to incorporate into these Notes comments on material I’ve already read rather than engage with unread material at this stage.
Footnote 14:
- I may have read others in between updates of this Note – in which case they will be marked as such in the “References and Reading List” below.
- Papers or Books partially read have a rough %age based on the time spent versus the time expected.
Live Version of this Archived Note
| Date |
Length |
Title |
| 06/07/2023 00:43:12 |
3720 |
Fusion |
Table of the 3 Earlier Versions of this Note
| Date |
Length |
Title |
| 18/12/2010 19:58:05 |
859 |
Fusion |
| 26/11/2007 23:25:26 |
763 |
Fusion |
| 12/08/2007 10:17:46 |
658 |
Fusion |
Table of the 5 Later Versions of this Note
| Date |
Length |
Title |
| 20/09/2022 11:24:00 |
3509 |
Fusion |
| 15/05/2022 13:19:12 |
3182 |
Fusion |
| 01/10/2021 13:17:46 |
2990 |
Fusion |
| 12/02/2021 15:44:38 |
2145 |
Fusion |
| 25/09/2020 20:15:22 |
1734 |
Fusion |
Summary of Notes Links from this Page
To access information, click on one of the links in the table above (if any).
Summary of Note Links to this Page
| Blackburn - Has Kant Refuted Parfit?, 2 |
Brain, 2, 3 |
Dicephalus, 2, 3 |
Parfit, 2, 3 |
Pregnancy, 2 |
| Teletransportation |
Thesis - Chapter 10 (Thought Experiments) |
Thesis - Current Stance, 2 |
Thesis - Outline |
Transplants, 2 |
| Twinning, 2 |
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To access information, click on one of the links in the table above (if any).
Text Colour Conventions
- Blue: Text by me; © Theo Todman, 2026