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Personal Identity

Scattered Objects

(Work In Progress: output at 24/11/2025 19:39:22)

Plug Note¹

• Thesis Text:
  1. The possibility of scattered objects is of fairly limited interest in the study of Personal Identity, though the topic is discussed passim in "Olson (Eric) - Immanent Causation and Life After Death", and also in my review² of "Zimmerman (Dean) - Problems for Animalism".
  2. The concept features in the discussion of intermittent objects³ where – rather than admit of such things – an alternative is to allow the disassembled bicycle to be a scattered object.
  3. Another locus of interest is in certain medieval concepts of the resurrection of the body. If the body is gathered together again from its “dust”, then maybe it had continued to exist as a scattered object. The problem with this is that organisms don’t own their parts essentially, and they can be shared over time by a number of organisms (witness the old worry about cannibalism, and the counterfactual reply that the body “rejects” cannibalised flesh).
  4. A problem with allowing scattered objects is that it undermines our intuition that one of the things that grounds the persistence⁴ of material objects is spatio-temporal continuity⁵.
  5. Scattered objects arise perforce if we hold to mereological essentialism⁶, or allow that any gerrymandered object exists⁷ and has its parts essentially.
  6. Various collectives may be said to constitute a Superorganism and be said to have a ‘Hive Mind’ or have ‘Collective Intelligence’ or ‘Swarm Intelligence’. Whatever I have to say about this will be covered in my Note on Organisms⁸.

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  Further Remarks:
  1. None.

References

• Relevant Works cited above:
  1. "Olson (Eric) - Immanent Causation and Life After Death", 2010, Write-Up Note⁹, Annotations, External Link, Internal PDF Link, Read
  2. "Zimmerman (Dean) - Problems for Animalism", 2008, Write-Up Note¹⁰, Annotations, Internal PDF Link, Read
• For a Page of Links¹¹ to this Note, Click here.
• Works on this topic that I’ve actually read¹², include the following:-
  • Aeon:
    1. "Clark (Andy) & Kuhn (Robert Lawrence) - Aeon: Video - Andy Clark - Virtual immortality", 2019, External Link
  • General:
    1. "Ayers (Michael R.) - Locke on 'Masses of Matter'", 1991, Annotations
    2. "Cartwright (Richard) - Scattered Objects", 1975, Annotations, Internal PDF Link
    3. "Dennett (Daniel) - Where Am I?", 1997, Annotations, External Link, Internal PDF Link
    4. "Hazlett (Allan) - Disassembly and Destruction", 2006, Annotations, Internal PDF Link
    5. "Olson (Eric) - Immanent Causation and Life After Death", 2010, Write-Up Note¹³, Annotations, External Link, Internal PDF Link
    6. "Olson (Eric) - Why We Need Not Accept the Psychological Approach", 1999
    7. "Zimmerman (Dean) - Problems for Animalism", 2008, Write-Up Note¹⁴, Annotations, Internal PDF Link
• A further reading list might start with:-
  • General:
    1. "Brennan (Andrew) - Identity and Discontinuity", 1988
    2. "Chisholm (Roderick) - Scattered Objects", 1987
    3. "Hershenov (David) - Scattered Artifacts", 2002, External Link, Internal PDF Link
    4. "Sorensen (Roy) - Self-Deception and Scattered Events", 1985, Internal PDF Link

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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-holder¹⁵.

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Table of the Previous 10 Versions of this Note:

Date	Length	Title
06/07/2023 00:43:12	3041	Scattered Objects
20/09/2022 11:24:00	2717	Scattered Objects
01/05/2022 18:20:10	2286	Scattered Objects
17/02/2021 01:17:46	2169	Scattered Objects
30/09/2020 16:01:55	1741	Scattered Objects
24/06/2018 16:32:10	3847	Scattered Objects
11/03/2018 20:19:41	2834	Scattered Objects
04/07/2014 22:46:34	1300	Scattered Objects
26/11/2007 23:25:26	84	Scattered Objects
12/08/2007 10:17:46	80	Scattered Objects

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Note last updated	Reading List for this Topic	Parent Topic
02/03/2026 06:46:41	Scattered Objects	Mereology

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Summary of Notes Referenced by This Note

Awaiting Attention (Personal Identity)	Continuity	Essentialism	Existence	Intermittent Objects
Note Links Explanation	Olson - Immanent Causation and Life After Death	Organisms	Persistence	Plug Note Apologia
Works Read - Explanation	Zimmerman - The Human Animal: Objections

To access information, click on one of the links in the table above.

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Summary of Notes Citing This Note

Baker - Materialism with a Human Face	Counting Persons	Dracula	Fission	Intermittent Objects, 2, 3, 4, 5
Mereology	Olson - Immanent Causation and Life After Death, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8	Olson - What Are We? Animals	Organisms	PID Note, Book & Paper Usage, 2, 3
Ship of Theseus	Status: Personal Identity (2025 - December)	Status: Priority Task List (2026 - February)	Status: Summary (2025 - December)	Thesis - Chapter 03 (What is a Person?)
Thesis - Chapter 04 (Basic Metaphysical Issues), 2, 3, 4, 5	Thesis - Chapter 05 (Persistence and Time), 2, 3, 4	Thesis - Chapter 06 (Animalism and Arguments for It)	Thesis - Chapter 07 (The Constitution View and Arguments for It), 2	Thesis - Chapter 10 (Thought Experiments), 2
Thesis - Personal Identity, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13	Website Generator Documentation - Functors, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6	Zimmerman - The Human Animal: Objections

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 undying hydra	Paper		Yes
Brennan (Andrew)	Identity and Discontinuity	Paper
Chisholm (Roderick)	Scattered Objects	Paper	2, 3, 4
Clark (Andy) & Kuhn (Robert Lawrence)	Aeon: Video - Andy Clark - Virtual immortality	Paper		Yes
Dennett (Daniel)	Where Am I?	Paper	2	Yes
Duncan (Matt)	I Think, Therefore I Persist	Paper		Yes
Hershenov (David)	Scattered Artifacts	Paper
Lockwood (Michael)	When Does a Life Begin?	Paper		Yes
Olson (Eric)	Immanent Causation and Life After Death	Paper	2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8	Yes
Olson (Eric)	What Are We? Animals	Paper		Yes
Olson (Eric)	Why We Need Not Accept the Psychological Approach	Paper		Yes
Sider (Ted), Hawthorne (John) & Zimmerman (Dean), Eds.	Contemporary Debates in Metaphysics	Book
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Chapter 03 (What is a Person?)	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Chapter 04 (Basic Metaphysical Issues)	Paper	2, 3, 4, 5	Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Chapter 05 (Persistence and Time)	Paper	2, 3, 4	Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Chapter 06 (Animalism and Arguments for It)	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Chapter 07 (The Constitution View and Arguments for It)	Paper	2	Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Chapter 10 (Thought Experiments)	Paper	2	Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Counting Persons	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Dracula	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Fission	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Intermittent Objects	Paper	2, 3, 4, 5	Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Mereology	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Organisms	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Personal Identity	Paper	2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13	Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Ship of Theseus	Paper		Yes
Zimmerman (Dean)	Problems for Animalism	Paper		Yes

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References & Reading List

Author	Title	Medium	Source	Read?
Aeon	Video - The undying hydra	Paper - Referencing	Aeon, 25 May 2021	Yes
Ayers (Michael R.)	Locke (Vol 2 - Ontology)	Book - Cited (via Paper Cited)	Bibliographical details to be supplied	26%
Ayers (Michael R.)	Locke on 'Masses of Matter'	Paper - Cited	Ayers - Locke (Vol. 2 - Ontology), 1991, Chapter 18, pp. 207-215	Yes
Baker (Lynne Rudder)	Materialism with a Human Face	Paper - Referencing	Corcoran - Soul, Body and Survival, Chapter 10	Yes
Barker (Stephen) & Dowe (Phil)	Paradoxes of multi-location	Paper - By Subtopic	Analysis, Vol. 63, No. 2 (Apr., 2003), pp. 106-114	No
Beebee (Helen) & Rush (Michael)	Non-paradoxical multi-location	Paper - By Subtopic	Analysis, Vol. 63, No. 4 (Oct., 2003), pp. 311-317	No
Brennan (Andrew)	Conditions of Identity	Book - Cited (via Paper Cited)	Bibliographical details to be supplied	0%
Brennan (Andrew)	Identity and Discontinuity	Paper - Cited	Brennan - Conditions of Identity, 1988, Chapter 4	No
Cartwright (Richard)	Scattered Objects	Paper - Cited	Lehrer - Analysis and Metaphysics, 1975	Yes
Chisholm (Roderick)	On Metaphysics	Book - By Subtopic (via Paper By Subtopic)	Chisholm (Roderick) - On Metaphysics	10%
Chisholm (Roderick)	Scattered Objects	Paper - By Subtopic	Thompson - On being and saying: essays for Richard Cartwright, 1987, pp. 167-173	No
Clark (Andy) & Kuhn (Robert Lawrence)	Aeon: Video - Andy Clark - Virtual immortality	Paper - Cited	Aeon, 19 August, 2019	Yes
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%
Dennett (Daniel)	Brainstorms - Philosophical Essays on Mind and Psychology	Book - Cited (via Paper Cited)	Bibliographical details to be supplied	43%
Dennett (Daniel)	Brainstorms - Philosophical Essays on Mind and Psychology	Book - Referencing (via Paper Referencing)	Bibliographical details to be supplied	43%
Dennett (Daniel)	Where Am I?	Paper - Cited	Dennett - Brainstorms - Philosophical Essays on Mind and Psychology, Chapter 17, 1978	Yes
Dennett (Daniel)	Where Am I?	Paper - Referencing	Dennett - Brainstorms - Philosophical Essays on Mind and Psychology, Chapter 17, 1978	Yes
Duncan (Matt)	I Think, Therefore I Persist	Paper - Referencing	Australasian Journal of Philosophy, Volume 93, 2015 - Issue 4, Pages 740-756	Yes
Gasser (Georg), Ed.	Personal Identity and Resurrection: How Do We Survive Our Death?	Book - Cited (via Paper Cited)	Bibliographical details to be supplied	96%
Gasser (Georg), Ed.	Personal Identity and Resurrection: How Do We Survive Our Death?	Book - Referencing (via Paper Referencing)	Bibliographical details to be supplied	96%
Hains (Brigid) & Hains (Paul)	Aeon: C-F	Book - Cited (via Paper Cited)	Bibliographical details to be supplied	51%
Hazlett (Allan)	Disassembly and Destruction	Paper - Cited	The Monist, Vol. 89, No. 3, Coming into Being and Passing Away (July 2006), pp. 418-433	Yes
Hershenov (David)	Scattered Artifacts	Paper - By Subtopic	Southern Journal of Philosophy 42, 2002, pp. 211-216	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%
McDaniel (Kris)	No paradox of multi-location	Paper - By Subtopic	Analysis, Vol. 63, No. 4 (Oct., 2003), pp. 309-311	No
Olson (Eric)	Immanent Causation and Life After Death	Paper - Cited	Gasser (Georg) - Personal Identity and Resurrection: How Do We Survive Our Death? 2010	Yes
Olson (Eric)	Immanent Causation and Life After Death	Paper - Referencing	Gasser (Georg) - Personal Identity and Resurrection: How Do We Survive Our Death? 2010	Yes
Olson (Eric)	The Human Animal - Personal Identity Without Psychology	Book - Cited (via Paper Cited)	Bibliographical details to be supplied	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)	Why We Need Not Accept the Psychological Approach	Paper - Cited	The Human Animal, September 1999, Chapter 3, pp. 42-72	Yes
Olson (Eric), Etc.	Abstracta Special Issue on 'The Human Animal'	Book - Cited (via Paper Cited)	Bibliographical details to be supplied	Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Scattered Objects	Paper - By Subtopic		Yes
Zimmerman (Dean)	Problems for Animalism	Paper - Cited	Abstracta Special Issue I – 2008 (Brazil)	Yes

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Text Colour Conventions

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

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