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Personal Identity

Persistent Vegetative State

(Work In Progress: output at 06/02/2026 01:10:34)

Plug Note¹

• Thesis Text:
  1. For information on what a Persistent Vegetative State (PVS) actually is, see for example "Wikipedia - Persistent vegetative state". Note that the Wikipedia article uses the PVS acronym to stand for a Permanent Vegetative State.
  2. It’s never clear whether any such state is permanent, whereas it is clear that it is persistent. In the UK, the state becomes legally “permanent” after 12 months, and the term “continuous” is used in preference to “persistent”.
  3. The medical definition is given there as “A wakeful unconscious state that lasts longer than a few weeks”. Despite the (occasional) wakefulness, there is a “complete lack of cognitive function”.
  4. The interest in the Persistent Vegetative State within the topic of Personal Identity is that when in a PVS the attributes of personhood² are not in evidence – and maybe not capable of being evidenced – so that it is possible to argue that the individual³ in the PVS is no longer a person⁴. It thus provides the opportunity to pull apart such prima facie co-referential terms as Human Person⁵ and Human Being⁶ (or Human Animal⁷).
  5. One may wonder why PVS is used in philosophical Thought experiments⁸ rather than Coma (a more severe condition). I suppose the issue is that in a PVS the brain-stem⁹ is substantially intact (whatever other brain-damage has been incurred), so that no life-support is required other than feeding tubes. In irreversible comas, the brain-stem may be so severely damaged that the basic functions of the organism¹⁰ cannot be carried on without life¹¹ support. Consequently, there’s no debate whether those in a PVS are animals¹², whereas it might be argued that those on life support in an irreversible coma are not. Hence, while the PVS definitely distinguishes human animals¹³ from human persons¹⁴ (according to most definitions), irreversible coma might not.
  6. I had originally put “vegetative functions” (rather than simply “functions”) above, but I’m unconvinced that any activity above cellular level ought to be classed as “vegetative”; but I think the Aristotelian classification is often adopted, where “animal” functions are those involving locomotion and the like, rather than nutrition, respiration, etc.
  7. I have discussed PVSs in my reviews of the following papers, amongst others:-
     → "Baillie (James) - What Am I?",
     → "Dennett (Daniel) - Conditions of Personhood",
     → "Fine (Kit) - The Non-Identity of a Material Thing and Its Matter",
     → "Olson (Eric) - Precis of 'The Human Animal'", and
     → "Baker (Lynne Rudder) - When Do Persons Begin and End?"

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  Further Remarks:
  1. PVSs are discussed in the following Papers / Notes I’ve commented on:-
     
     1. My Review¹⁵ of "Baillie (James) - What Am I?",
     2. My Review¹⁶ of "Dennett (Daniel) - Conditions of Personhood",
     3. My Essay¹⁷ on "Fine (Kit) - The Non-Identity of a Material Thing and Its Matter",
     4. My Review¹⁸ of "Olson (Eric) - Precis of 'The Human Animal'",
     5. My comments on "Baker (Lynne Rudder) - When Do Persons Begin and End?",
     6. And doubtless many others in the “items read” list below.
        

References

• Relevant Works cited above:
  1. "Baillie (James) - What Am I?", 1993, Write-Up Note¹⁹, Read
  2. "Baker (Lynne Rudder) - When Do Persons Begin and End?", 2005, Annotations, External Link, Internal PDF Link, Read
  3. "Dennett (Daniel) - Conditions of Personhood", 1997, Write-Up Note²⁰, Annotations, Read
  4. "Fine (Kit) - The Non-Identity of a Material Thing and Its Matter", 2003, Write-Up Note²¹, Annotations, Internal PDF Link, Read
  5. "Olson (Eric) - Precis of 'The Human Animal'", 2008, Write-Up Note²², Internal PDF Link, Read
  6. "Wikipedia - Persistent vegetative state", 2023, External Link, Read = 12%
• For a Page of Links²³ to this Note, Click here.
• Works on this topic that I’ve actually read²⁴, include the following:-
  • Aeon:
    1. "Platts-Mills (Ben) - Animal, vegetable, mineral", 2023, External Link
  • General:
    1. "Baillie (James) - What Am I?", 1993, Write-Up Note²⁵, Footnote₂₆
    2. "Baker (Lynne Rudder) - When Do Persons Begin and End?", 2005, Annotations, External Link, Internal PDF Link
    3. "Dennett (Daniel) - Conditions of Personhood", 1997, Write-Up Note²⁷, Annotations
    4. "Fine (Kit) - The Non-Identity of a Material Thing and Its Matter", 2003, Write-Up Note²⁸, Annotations, Internal PDF Link
    5. "Gert (Bernard), Lizza (John), Youngner (Stuart) & Chiong (Winston) - Matters of 'Life' and 'Death'", 2006, Annotations, Internal PDF Link
    6. "Liao (S. Matthew) - The Organism View Defended", 2006, Annotations, Internal PDF Link
    7. "Lockwood (Michael) - When Does a Life Begin?", 1987, Annotations
    8. "Olson (Eric) - Persistence", 1999
    9. "Olson (Eric) - Precis of 'The Human Animal'", 2008, Write-Up Note²⁹, Internal PDF Link
    10. "Olson (Eric) - Psychology and Personal Identity", 1999
    11. "Olson (Eric) - The Human Animal: Introduction", 1999
    12. "Olson (Eric) - Why We Need Not Accept the Psychological Approach", 1999
    13. "Shoemaker (David) - Personal Identity, Rational Anticipation, and Self-Concern", 2009
• A further reading list might start with:-
  • General:
    1. "Corcoran (Kevin) - The Stem Cell Challenge", 2006, Read = 7%
    2. "Cranford (Ronald E.) - The Persistent Vegetative State: The Medical Reality (Getting the Facts Straight)", 1988, Internal PDF Link
    3. "Lizza (John) - Persons And Death: What's Metaphysically Wrong With Our Current Statutory Definition Of Death?", 1993, Internal PDF Link
    4. "Luper (Steven) - Posthumous Harm", 2004, Internal PDF Link, Read = 11%
    5. "McMahan (Jeff) - Endings", 2002
    6. "Noe (Alva) - Out of Our Heads: Why You Are Not Your Brain, and Other Lessons from the Biology of Consciousness", 2009, Read = 11%
    7. "Singer (Peter) - Rethinking Life & Death - The Collapse Our Traditional Ethics", 1994, Book, Read = 1%, Footnote₃₀
    8. "Wikipedia - Persistent vegetative state", 2023, External Link, Read = 12%
    9. "Wikler (Daniel) - Not Dead, Not Dying? Ethical Categories and Persistent Vegetative State", 1988, Internal PDF Link
• For further papers held on-line of potential interest, follow this Link³¹. Total papers = 1.

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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-holder³².

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In-Page Footnotes:

Footnote 26:

• This paper – inter alia – confirms my “take” on the Cheshire Cat’s smile.
• See Draft Note, Review Comments.

Footnote 30:

• I have read this in the distant past, but made no notes, so must read it again.

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Table of the Previous 10 Versions of this Note:

Date	Length	Title
06/07/2023 00:43:12	5442	Persistent Vegetative State
20/09/2022 11:24:00	4656	Persistent Vegetative State
16/05/2022 21:18:43	4275	Persistent Vegetative State
16/02/2021 01:00:29	4008	Persistent Vegetative State
29/09/2020 19:24:58	3408	Persistent Vegetative State
03/09/2018 19:49:26	5520	Persistent Vegetative State
11/03/2018 20:19:41	4082	Persistent Vegetative State
04/07/2014 22:46:34	2515	Persistent Vegetative State
26/11/2007 23:25:26	84	Persistent Vegetative State
12/08/2007 10:17:46	80	Persistent Vegetative State

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Note last updated	Reading List for this Topic	Parent Topic
01/06/2026 04:43:33	Persistent Vegetative State	Clinical Observations

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Summary of Notes Referenced by This Note

Animals	Awaiting Attention (Personal Identity)	Baillie - What Am I?	Brain	Daniel Dennett – Conditions of Personhood
Fine - The Non-Identity of a Material Thing and Its Matter	Fine - The Non-Identity of a Material Thing and Its Matter (Essay)	Human Animals	Human Beings	Human Persons
Individual	Jen_080204 (Brandom, Chisholm, Baillie)	Life	Note Links Explanation	Olson - The Human Animal (Precis)
Organisms	Person	PID Note, Book & Paper Usage	Plug Note Apologia	Thought Experiments
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

Abbreviations	Animalism	Animalism - Objections	Baker - Persons in the Material World	Birch - The Edge of Sentience: Risk and Precaution in Humans, Other Animals, and AI
Brain Death	Human Beings	Intermittent Objects	Olson - What Are We? Animals, 2	Olson - What Are We? The Question, 2
PID Note, Book & Paper Usage, 2, 3, 4	Thesis - Chapter 02 (What are We?), 2	Thesis - Chapter 05 (Persistence and Time)	Thesis - Chapter 06 (Animalism and Arguments for It)	Thesis - Chapter 08 (Arguments against Animalism)
Thesis - Chapter 11 (Resurrection), 2, 3, 4, 5	Thesis - Chapter 12 (Conclusion)	Thesis - Current Stance	Thesis - Personal Identity, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8	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 - What does dying really feel like?	Paper		Yes
Bailey (Andrew M.)	The Elimination Argument	Paper
Baker (Lynne Rudder)	Persons in the Material World	Paper		Yes
Baker (Lynne Rudder)	When Do Persons Begin and End?	Paper	2	Yes
Birch (Jonathan)	The Edge of Sentience: Risk and Precaution in Humans, Other Animals, and AI	Paper		Yes
Corcoran (Kevin)	The Stem Cell Challenge	Paper
Cranford (Ronald E.)	The Persistent Vegetative State: The Medical Reality (Getting the Facts Straight)	Paper	2, 3, 4
Gert (Bernard), Lizza (John), Youngner (Stuart) & Chiong (Winston)	Matters of 'Life' and 'Death'	Paper	2, 3, 4, 5	Yes
Liao (S. Matthew)	The Organism View Defended	Paper		Yes
Lizza (John)	Persons And Death: What's Metaphysically Wrong With Our Current Statutory Definition Of Death?	Paper	2, 3
Lockwood (Michael)	When Does a Life Begin?	Paper	2, 3, 4	Yes
Luper (Steven)	Posthumous Harm	Paper
McMahan (Jeff)	Endings	Paper
McMahan (Jeff)	The Ethics of Killing: Preface	Paper
Noe (Alva)	Out of Our Heads: Why You Are Not Your Brain, and Other Lessons from the Biology of Consciousness	Paper
Olson (Eric)	Persistence	Paper	2, 3, 4, 5	Yes
Olson (Eric)	Psychology and Personal Identity	Paper	2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21	Yes
Olson (Eric)	Review of Lynne Baker's 'Persons And Bodies'	Paper
Olson (Eric)	The Human Animal: Introduction	Paper	2	Yes
Olson (Eric)	The Human Animal: References	Paper		Yes
Olson (Eric)	What Are We? Animals	Paper	2	Yes
Olson (Eric)	What Are We? The Question	Paper	2	Yes
Olson (Eric)	Why We Need Not Accept the Psychological Approach	Paper		Yes
Platts-Mills (Ben)	Animal, vegetable, mineral	Paper		Yes
Shoemaker (David)	Personal Identity and Ethics - Conclusion: Notes on Method	Paper		Yes
Shoemaker (David)	Personal Identity, Rational Anticipation, and Self-Concern	Paper	2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9	Yes
Singer (Peter)	Rethinking Life & Death - The Collapse Our Traditional Ethics	Book
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Abbreviations	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Animalism	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Animalism - Objections	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Brain Death	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Chapter 02 (What Are We?)	Paper	2	Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Chapter 05 (Persistence and Time)	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Chapter 06 (Animalism and Arguments for It)	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Chapter 08 (Arguments against Animalism)	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Chapter 11 (Resurrection)	Paper	2, 3, 4, 5	Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Chapter 12 (Conclusion)	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Current Position	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Human Beings	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Intermittent Objects	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Personal Identity	Paper	2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8	Yes
Van Inwagen (Peter)	Plantinga’s Replacement Argument	Paper		Yes
Wikler (Daniel)	Not Dead, Not Dying? Ethical Categories and Persistent Vegetative State	Paper	2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
Wyatt (John)	Matters of Life and Death	Book	2

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References & Reading List

Author	Title	Medium	Source	Read?
Aeon	Video - What does dying really feel like?	Paper - Referencing	Aeon, 23 June 2022	Yes
Bailey (Andrew M.)	The Elimination Argument	Paper - Referencing	Philosophical Studies 168 (2014): 475-482	56%
Baillie (James)	Problems in Personal Identity	Book - Cited (via Paper Cited)	Bibliographical details to be supplied	45%
Baillie (James)	What Am I?	Paper - Cited	Baillie (James) - Problems in Personal Identity, 1993, Chapter 4	Yes
Baker (Deane-Peter)	Alvin Plantinga	Book - Referencing (via Paper Referencing)	Bibliographical details to be supplied	9%
Baker (Lynne Rudder)	When Do Persons Begin and End?	Paper - Cited	Distinguished Faculty Lecture, December 5, 2005	Yes
Birch (Jonathan)	The Edge of Sentience: Risk and Precaution in Humans, Other Animals, and AI	Book - Referencing (via Paper Referencing)	Bibliographical details to be supplied	Yes
Birch (Jonathan)	The Edge of Sentience: Risk and Precaution in Humans, Other Animals, and AI	Paper - Referencing	Birch (Jonathan) - The Edge of Sentience: Risk and Precaution in Humans, Other Animals, and AI	Yes
Brody (Baruch)	Ethical Questions Raised by the Persistent Vegetative Patient	Paper - By Subtopic	The Hastings Center Report, Vol. 18, No. 1 (Feb. - Mar., 1988), pp. 33-37	Yes
Corcoran (Kevin)	Rethinking Human Nature: A Christian Materialist Alternative to the Soul	Book - Cited (via Paper Cited)	Bibliographical details to be supplied	13%
Corcoran (Kevin)	The Stem Cell Challenge	Paper - Cited	Corcoran (Kevin) - Rethinking Human Nature, Chapter 4	7%
Cranford (Ronald E.)	The Persistent Vegetative State: The Medical Reality (Getting the Facts Straight)	Paper - By Subtopic	The Hastings Center Report, Vol. 18, No. 1 (Feb. - Mar., 1988), pp. 27-32	No
Dennett (Daniel)	Brainstorms - Philosophical Essays on Mind and Psychology	Book - Cited (via Paper Cited)	Bibliographical details to be supplied	43%
Dennett (Daniel)	Conditions of Personhood	Paper - Cited	Dennett - Brainstorms - Philosophical Essays on Mind and Psychology, Chapter 14, 1976	Yes
Fine (Kit)	The Non-Identity of a Material Thing and Its Matter	Paper - Cited	Mind - 112/446 (April 2003)	Yes
Gert (Bernard), Lizza (John), Youngner (Stuart) & Chiong (Winston)	Matters of 'Life' and 'Death'	Paper - Cited	The Hastings Center Report, Vol. 36, No. 3 (May - Jun., 2006), pp. 4-6	Yes
Liao (S. Matthew)	The Organism View Defended	Paper - Cited	The Monist, Vol. 89, No. 3, Coming into Being and Passing Away (July 2006), pp. 334-350	Yes
Lizza (John)	Persons And Death: What's Metaphysically Wrong With Our Current Statutory Definition Of Death?	Paper - By Subtopic	The Journal of Medicine and Philosophy 18: 351-374, 1993	No
Lockwood (Michael)	When Does a Life Begin?	Paper - Referencing	Lockwood - Moral Dilemmas in Modern Medicine, 1987	Yes
Lockwood (Michael), Ed.	Moral Dilemmas in Modern Medicine	Book - Referencing (via Paper Referencing)	Bibliographical details to be supplied	29%
Martin (Michael G.F.), Ed.	Mind - 112/446 (April 2003)	Book - Cited (via Paper Cited)	Bibliographical details to be supplied	50%
McMahan (Jeff)	Endings	Paper - By Subtopic	Jeff McMahan - The Ethics of Killing: Problems at the Margins of Life, 2002, Chapter 5, pp. 423-504	No
McMahan (Jeff)	The Ethics of Killing: Preface	Paper - By Subtopic	Jeff McMahan - The Ethics of Killing: Problems at the Margins of Life, 2002, Preface	No
McMahan (Jeff)	The Ethics of Killing: Problems at the Margins of Life	Book - By Subtopic (via Paper By Subtopic)	McMahan (Jeff) - The Ethics of Killing: Problems at the Margins of Life	No
Noe (Alva)	Out of Our Heads: Why You Are Not Your Brain, and Other Lessons from the Biology of Consciousness	Book - By Subtopic (via Paper By Subtopic)	Noe (Alva) - Out of Our Heads: Why You Are Not Your Brain, and Other Lessons from the Biology of Consciousness	8%
Noe (Alva)	Out of Our Heads: Why You Are Not Your Brain, and Other Lessons from the Biology of Consciousness	Paper - By Subtopic	Noe (Alva) - Out of Our Heads: Why You Are Not Your Brain, and Other Lessons from the Biology of Consciousness	11%
Olson (Eric)	Persistence	Paper - Referencing	The Human Animal, September 1999, Chapter 2, pp. 22-41	Yes
Olson (Eric)	Precis of 'The Human Animal'	Paper - Cited	Abstracta Special Issue I – 2008 (Brazil)	Yes
Olson (Eric)	Psychology and Personal Identity	Paper - Referencing	The Human Animal, September 1999, Chapter 1, pp. 7-21	Yes
Olson (Eric)	The Human Animal - Personal Identity Without Psychology	Book - Referencing (via Paper Referencing)	Bibliographical details to be supplied	Yes
Olson (Eric)	The Human Animal: Introduction	Paper - Referencing	The Human Animal, September 1999, Introduction, pp. 3-7	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
Olson (Eric), Etc.	Abstracta Special Issue on 'The Human Animal'	Book - Cited (via Paper Cited)	Bibliographical details to be supplied	Yes
Platts-Mills (Ben)	Animal, vegetable, mineral	Paper - Cited	Aeon, 14 April 2023	Yes
Platts-Mills (Ben)	Animal, vegetable, mineral	Paper - Referencing	Aeon, 14 April 2023	Yes
Shoemaker (David)	Personal Identity and Ethics: A Brief Introduction	Book - Referencing (via Paper Referencing)	Bibliographical details to be supplied	Yes
Shoemaker (David)	Personal Identity, Rational Anticipation, and Self-Concern	Paper - Referencing	Shoemaker (David) - Personal Identity and Ethics: A Brief Introduction, 2009, Chapter 2	Yes
Singer (Peter)	Rethinking Life & Death - The Collapse Our Traditional Ethics	Book - Cited	Singer (Peter) - Rethinking Life & Death - The Collapse Our Traditional Ethics	1%
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Persistent Vegetative State	Paper - By Subtopic		Yes
Van Inwagen (Peter)	Plantinga’s Replacement Argument	Paper - Referencing	Baker (Deane-Peter) - Alvin Plantinga, Chapter 8	Yes
Wikipedia	Persistent vegetative state	Paper - Cited	Wikipedia; Extract taken 03 May 2023	12%
Wikler (Daniel)	Not Dead, Not Dying? Ethical Categories and Persistent Vegetative State	Paper - By Subtopic	The Hastings Center Report, Vol. 18, No. 1 (Feb. - Mar., 1988), pp. 41-47	No

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Text Colour Conventions

1. Blue: Text by me; © Theo Todman, 2026
2. Mauve: Text by correspondent(s) or other author(s); © the author(s)

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