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Personal Identity

Origins

(Text as at 06/07/2023 00:43:12)

Plug Note¹

• Thesis Text:
  1. Our origins – just when “we” came into existence – are closely tied up with whatever “we” are².
  2. So, an Animalist³ (who thinks that we are essentially animals⁴, rather than persons⁵, and for whom psychology⁶ is irrelevant to our identity) would insist that we come into existence earlier than would a supporter of the Psychological View⁷, or of the Constitution View⁸ (for whom a First-Person Perspective⁹ is definitive of our identity). Our psychology – and particularly a psychology rich enough to qualify us as persons¹⁰ – comes into existence fairly late on in our development.
  3. For modal¹¹ reasons, endurantists¹² can’t have “us” coming into existence before the possibility of twinning¹³ is past, though perdurantists¹⁴ don’t have this worry.
  4. I would also like to discuss Saul Kripke’s views on origins-essentialism.
     1. Metaphysically, I could not have been born other than from the particular egg-sperm combination from which I was born, and consequently
     2. Practically, I could not have been conceived other than at the time at which I was conceived.
  5. There are ethical ramifications in the context of abortion¹⁵ debates (and infanticide, for that matter), but I cannot pursue these in any detail.

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  Further Remarks:
  1. I intend to address this topic in the various chapters of my thesis when I discuss what we are¹⁶. So, the aspect of “origins” I intend to focus on is our own origins, as individuals₁₇.
  2. So, the relevant chapters would include:-
     1. Chapter 02¹⁸ (What Are We?)
     2. Chapter 06¹⁹ (Animalism and Arguments For It)
     3. Chapter 07²⁰ (The Constitution View and Arguments For It)
     4. Chapter 08²¹ (Arguments Against Animalism)
     5. Chapter 09²² (Arguments Against The Constitution View)

References

• Relevant Works cited above: No items to list.
• For a Page of Links²³ to this Note, Click here. Unfortunately, this list is too long – with too many false positives – to be very useful.
• Works on this topic that I’ve actually read²⁴, include the following:-
  • Aeon:
    1. "Barash (David P.) - Anthropic arrogance", 2018, External Link
    2. "Linford (Daniel) - Exploding the Big Bang", 2024, External Link
    3. "Polansky (David) - The battles over beginnings", 2024, External Link
  • General:
    1. "Heyes (Cecilia M.) - Cognitive Gadgets: The Cultural Evolution of Thinking", 2018, Book
    2. "Kripke (Saul) - Naming and Necessity", 1980, Book
    3. "Lewis (David) - Mad Pain and Martian Pain", 1980
    4. "Lockwood (Michael) - When Does a Life Begin?", 1987, Annotations
    5. "Reid (Jasper) - Kripke on Naming and Necessity (Course Notes)", 2015, Internal PDF Link
    6. "Ward (Keith) - Review - Goff - Why? The Purpose of the Universe", External Link
• I don’t really have a study-list to hand. The reading lists of the above Chapters should be sufficient. However, it might include the following items on origins-essentialism:-
  • General:
    1. "Barnett (David) - The Problem of Material Origins", 2005, Internal PDF Link
    2. "Brueckner (Anthony) & Fischer (John Martin) - Being Born Earlier", 1998, Internal PDF Link
    3. "Carroll (Sean M.) - The Big Picture: On the Origins of Life, Meaning, and the Universe Itself", 2017, Book, Read = 1%
    4. "Cohnitz (Daniel) & Smith (Barry) - Assessing Ontologies: The Question of Human Origins and Its Ethical Significance", 2003, External Link, Internal PDF Link, Read = 11%
    5. "Forbes (Graeme) - Origin and Identity", 1980
    6. "Forbes (Graeme) - Origins and Identities", 2002
    7. "Ford (Norman), Warnock (Mary) - When Did I Begin: Foreward & Preface", 1988, Read = 89%
    8. "Galton (Antony) - On the Process of Coming into Existence", 2006, Internal PDF Link, Read = 6%
    9. "Gomez-Torrente (Mario) - Rigidity and Essentiality", 2006, Internal PDF Link
    10. "Hinchman (Lewis P.) - The Idea Of Individuality: Origins, Meaning, And Political Significance", 1990, Internal PDF Link
    11. "Hughes (Christopher) - Necessity", 2004
    12. "Kingma (Elselijn) - Nine months", 2018, External Link, Read = 6%
    13. "Mackie (Penelope) - Forbes on Origins and Identities", 2002
    14. "Mackie (Penelope) - Identity, Time, and Necessity", 1997, Internal PDF Link
    15. "McGinn (Colin) - On the Necessity of Origin", 1976, Internal PDF Link
    16. "Noonan (Harold) - The Necessity of Origin", 1983, Internal PDF Link
    17. "Robertson (Teresa) - Possibilities and the Arguments for Origin Essentialism", 1998, Internal PDF Link
    18. "Robertson (Teresa) & Forbes (Graeme) - Does the New Route Reach its Destination?", 2006, Internal PDF Link
    19. "Rohrbaugh (Guy) & deRosset (Louis) - A New Route to the Necessity of Origin", 2004
    20. "Rohrbaugh (Guy) & DeRosset (Louis) - Prevention, Independence, and Origin", 2006, Internal PDF Link
    21. "Salmon (Nathan) - Arguments for the Essentiality of Origin", 2005
    22. "Scaltsas (Theodore) - Identity, Origin and Spatiotemporal Continuity", 1981, Internal PDF Link
    23. "Williams (Bernard) - Resenting One's Own Existence", 1990, Internal PDF Link
    24. "Williamson (Timothy) - Necessary Existents", 2002, Internal PDF Link
• For further papers held on-line of potential interest, follow this Link²⁵. Total papers = 4.

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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-holder²⁶.

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In-Page Footnotes:

Footnote 17:

• So, I will not be interested, under this head, in the origins of species or of the universe, interesting topics though these might be.

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Table of the Previous 8 Versions of this Note:

Date	Length	Title
20/09/2022 11:24:00	4127	Origins
07/05/2022 00:44:38	3746	Origins
16/02/2021 01:00:29	3396	Origins
29/09/2020 19:24:58	2759	Origins
29/04/2018 20:08:10	4864	Origins
23/07/2015 21:00:00	2927	Origins
26/11/2007 23:25:26	89	Origins
12/08/2007 10:17:46	80	Origins

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Note last updated	Reading List for this Topic	Parent Topic
06/07/2023 00:43:12	Origins	Logic of Identity

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Summary of Notes Referenced by This Note

Abortion	Animalism	Animals	Awaiting Attention (Personal Identity)	Constitution View
Endurantism	First-Person Perspective	Modality	Note Links Explanation	Perdurantism
Person	PID Note, Book & Paper Usage	Plug Note Apologia	Psychological View	Psychology
Thesis - Chapter 02 (What are We?)	Thesis - Chapter 06 (Animalism and Arguments for It)	Thesis - Chapter 07 (The Constitution View and Arguments for It)	Thesis - Chapter 08 (Arguments against Animalism)	Thesis - Chapter 09 (Arguments against the Constitution View)
Twinning	What are We?	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

Animalism	Baker - Materialism with a Human Face	Genetics	Methuselah	PID Note, Book & Paper Usage, 2, 3, 4, 5
Reduplication Objections	Thesis - Chapter 01 (Introduction)	Thesis - Chapter 06 (Animalism and Arguments for It), 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7	Thesis - Chapter 10 (Thought Experiments), 2	Thesis - Personal Identity, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
Transhumanism	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?
Ayers (Michael R.)	Locke on Living Things	Paper		Yes
Gendler (Tamar Szabo)	Imaginary Exceptions: On the Powers and Limits of Thought Experiment	Paper
Linford (Daniel)	Exploding the Big Bang	Paper		Yes
Morison (Frank)	N/A	Author
Pickering (Wilbur)	N/A	Author
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Animalism	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Chapter 01 (Introduction)	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Chapter 06 (Animalism and Arguments for It)	Paper	2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7	Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Chapter 10 (Thought Experiments)	Paper	2	Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Genetics	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Methuselah	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Personal Identity	Paper	2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7	Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Reduplication Objections	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Transhumanism	Paper		Yes

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References & Reading List

Author	Title	Medium	Source	Read?
Ayers (Michael R.)	Locke (Vol 2 - Ontology)	Book - Referencing (via Paper Referencing)	Bibliographical details to be supplied	26%
Ayers (Michael R.)	Locke on Living Things	Paper - Referencing	Ayers - Locke (Vol. 2 - Ontology), 1991, Chapter 19, pp. 216-228	Yes
Baker (Lynne Rudder)	Materialism with a Human Face	Paper - Referencing	Corcoran - Soul, Body and Survival, Chapter 10	Yes
Barash (David P.)	Anthropic arrogance	Paper - Cited	Aeon, 18 September 2018	Yes
Barnes (Luke A.)	A reasonable little question : a formulation of the fine-tuning argument	Paper - By Subtopic	Ergo, Vol. 6, Issue 42, pp. 1220 - 1257	3%
Barnett (David)	The Problem of Material Origins	Paper - Cited	Noûs, Vol. 39, No. 3 (Sep., 2005), pp. 529-540	No
Carroll (Sean M.)	The Big Picture: On the Origins of Life, Meaning, and the Universe Itself	Book - Cited	Carroll (Sean M.) - The Big Picture: On the Origins of Life, Meaning, and the Universe Itself	1%
Carroll (Sean M.)	The Big Picture: On the Origins of Life, Meaning, and the Universe Itself	Paper - By Subtopic	Carroll (Sean M.) - The Big Picture: On the Origins of Life, Meaning, and the Universe Itself	2%
Cohnitz (Daniel) & Smith (Barry)	Assessing Ontologies: The Question of Human Origins and Its Ethical Significance	Paper - By Subtopic	E. Runggaldier and C. Kanzian (eds.), Persons – An Interdisciplinary Approach, Vienna, 2003, 243–59	11%
Corcoran (Kevin), Ed.	Soul, Body and Survival: Essays on the Metaphysics of Human Persons	Book - Referencing (via Paper Referencing)	Bibliographical details to be supplied	99%
Gendler (Tamar Szabo)	Imaginary Exceptions: On the Powers and Limits of Thought Experiment	Paper - By Subtopic	PhD Thesis, The Department of Philosophy, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, August 1996	1%
Goff (Philip)	A Change of Heart on Fine-Tuning	Paper - By Subtopic	Conscience and Consciousness - Academic Philosophy for a General Audience; April 24, 2018	Yes
Gomez-Torrente (Mario)	Rigidity and Essentiality	Paper - By Subtopic	Mind, 115, Number 458, April 2006, pp. 227-260(34)	No
Hains (Brigid) & Hains (Paul)	Aeon: Follow-up Boxes	Book - By Subtopic (via Paper By Subtopic)	Hains (Brigid) & Hains (Paul) - Aeon: Follow-up Boxes	100%
Hains (Brigid) & Hains (Paul)	Aeon: Follow-up Boxes	Book - Cited (via Paper Cited)	Bibliographical details to be supplied	100%
Hains (Brigid) & Hains (Paul)	Aeon: Follow-up Boxes	Book - Referencing (via Paper Referencing)	Bibliographical details to be supplied	100%
Heyes (Cecilia M.)	Cognitive Gadgets: The Cultural Evolution of Thinking	Book - Cited	Heyes (Cecilia M.) - Cognitive Gadgets: The Cultural Evolution of Thinking	Yes
Hughes (Christopher)	Kripke: Names, Necessity, and Identity	Book - By Subtopic (via Paper By Subtopic)	Hughes (Christopher) - Kripke: Names, Necessity, and Identity	No
Hughes (Christopher)	Kripke: Names, Necessity, and Identity: Preface	Paper - By Subtopic	Kripke: Names, Necessity, and Identity, 2004, Preface	No
Hughes (Christopher)	Names	Paper - By Subtopic	Kripke: Names, Necessity, and Identity, 2004, Chapter 1	No
Hughes (Christopher)	Necessity	Paper - By Subtopic	Kripke: Names, Necessity, and Identity, 2004, Chapter 2	No
Hughes (Christopher)	The Mental and the Physical	Paper - By Subtopic	Kripke: Names, Necessity, and Identity, 2004, Chapter 4	No
Linford (Daniel)	Exploding the Big Bang	Paper - Referencing	Aeon, 09 December 2024	Yes
Martin (Michael G.F.), Ed.	Mind - 113/452 (October 2004)	Book - By Subtopic (via Paper By Subtopic)	Martin (Michael G.F.), Ed. - Mind - 113/452 (October 2004)	No
Noonan (Harold)	The Necessity of Origin	Paper - By Subtopic	Mind, Vol. 92, No. 365 (Jan., 1983), pp. 1-20	No
Noonan (Harold)	Vague Objects	Paper - By Subtopic	Analysis, Vol. 42, No. 1 (Jan., 1982), pp. 3-6	No
Polansky (David)	The battles over beginnings	Paper - By Subtopic	Aeon, 08 March 2024	Yes
Rees (Martin)	Just Six Numbers - Coincidence, providence - or multiverse?	Paper - By Subtopic	Rees - Just Six Numbers - The Deep Forces that Shape the Universe	50%
Rees (Martin)	Just Six Numbers - The Deep Forces that Shape the Universe	Book - By Subtopic (via Paper By Subtopic)	Rees (Martin) - Just Six Numbers - The Deep Forces that Shape the Universe	42%
Rees (Martin)	Just Six Numbers - The Deep Forces that Shape the Universe	Paper - By Subtopic	Rees - Just Six Numbers - The Deep Forces that Shape the Universe	7%
Reid (Jasper)	Kripke on Naming and Necessity (Course Notes)	Paper - By Subtopic	Aberdeen University Website, copy taken 25 July 2017	Yes
Robertson (Teresa) & Forbes (Graeme)	Does the New Route Reach its Destination?	Paper - By Subtopic	Mind, 115, Number 458, April 2006, pp. 367-374(8)	No
Rohrbaugh (Guy) & deRosset (Louis)	A New Route to the Necessity of Origin	Paper - By Subtopic	Mind - 113/452 (October 2004)	No
Rohrbaugh (Guy) & DeRosset (Louis)	Prevention, Independence, and Origin	Paper - By Subtopic	Mind, 115, Number 458, April 2006, pp. 375-386(12)	No
Rookes (Douglas)	Genesis Two - 'Naught but Zeus' - The Semele Theory of Planetary Origin	Book - By Subtopic	Rookes (Douglas) - Genesis Two - 'Naught but Zeus' - The Semele Theory of Planetary Origin	No
Salmon (Nathan)	Arguments for the Essentiality of Origin	Paper - By Subtopic	Salmon - Reference and Essence, 2005, Chapter 7	No
Salmon (Nathan)	Reference and Essence	Book - By Subtopic (via Paper By Subtopic)	Salmon (Nathan) - Reference and Essence	4%
Salmon (Nathan)	The Essentialist Principles in the K and I Mechanisms	Paper - By Subtopic	Salmon - Reference and Essence, 2005, Appendix 2	No
Salmon (Nathan)	The Theory of Singular Direct Reference	Paper - By Subtopic	Salmon - Reference and Essence, 2005, Chapter 1	No
Scaltsas (Theodore)	Identity, Origin and Spatiotemporal Continuity	Paper - By Subtopic	Philosophy, Vol. 56, No. 217 (Jul., 1981), pp. 395-402	No
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Origins	Paper - By Subtopic		Yes
Varzi (Achille)	Strict Identity with No Overlap	Paper - By Subtopic	Studia Logica (forthcoming in …)	No
Ward (Keith)	Review - Goff - Why? The Purpose of the Universe	Paper - By Subtopic	The Church Times, 12 January 2024	Yes
White (Roger)	Fine-Tuning and Multiple Universes	Paper - By Subtopic	Nous 34:2 (2000) 260–276	13%
Williamson (Timothy)	Necessary Existents	Paper - By Subtopic	Published in A. O’Hear, ed., Logic, Thought and Language, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002, pp. 233-251	No
Wilson (Jack)	Biological Individuality - The identity and Persistence of Living Entities	Book - By Subtopic (via Paper By Subtopic)	Wilson (Jack) - Biological Individuality - The identity and Persistence of Living Entities	Yes
Wilson (Jack)	The Necessity of Biological Origin and Substantial Kinds	Paper - By Subtopic	Wilson, Jack - Biological Individuality: The identity and Persistence of Living Entities; 1999, Chap. 4, pp. 69-81	Yes

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Text Colour Conventions

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

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