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Personal Identity

Hylomorphism

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

Plug Note¹

• Thesis Text:
  1. This Aristotelian idea is very peripheral to my concerns, though it appears somewhat similar to – or a rival to – the Constitution View², as is discussed in "Quitterer (Josef) - Hylomorphism and the Constitution View".
  2. "Keles (Serap) - Personal identity and persistence over time : the hybrid view with regard to hylomorphism" looks important in attempting to bring together Animalism³ and the Constitution View⁴ as a Hybrid Theory⁵ in the context of Hylomorphism.
  3. "Cohen (S. Mark) & Reeve (C.D.C.) - Aristotle’s Metaphysics" discusses the topic of Hylomorphism in Section 7 (Substance and Essence) and Section 8 (Substances as Hylomorphic Compounds).
  4. Wikipedia has a sound-looking article ("Wikipedia - Hylomorphism"), from which I’ve extracted a few quotations (pending my writing something of my own):-
     • Aristotle defines X's matter as "that out of which" X is made. For example, letters are the matter of syllables. Thus, "matter" is a relative term: an object counts as matter relative to something else. For example, clay is matter relative to a brick because a brick is made of clay, whereas bricks are matter relative to a brick house.
     • Change is analyzed as a material transformation: matter is what undergoes a change of form. For example, consider a lump of bronze that's shaped into a statue. Bronze is the matter, and this matter loses one form (that of a lump) and gains a new form (that of a statue).
     • Aristotle applies his theory of hylomorphism to living things. He defines a soul as that which makes a living thing alive. Life is a property of living things, just as knowledge and health are. Therefore, a soul is a form — that is, a property or set of properties — belonging to a living thing. Furthermore, Aristotle says that a soul is related to its body as form to matter.
     • Hence, Aristotle argues, there is no problem in explaining the unity of body and soul, just as there is no problem in explaining the unity of wax and its shape. Just as a wax object consists of wax with a certain shape, so a living organism consists of a body with the property of life, which is its soul. On the basis of his hylomorphic theory, Aristotle rejects the Pythagorean doctrine of reincarnation⁶, ridiculing the notion that just any soul could inhabit just any body.
     • It is unclear whether Aristotle identifies the soul with the body's structure. According to one interpretation of Aristotle, a properly organized body is already alive simply by virtue of its structure. However, according to another interpretation, the property of life — that is, the soul — is something in addition to the body's structure. Likewise, according to this second interpretation, a living body is alive not only because of its structure but also because of an additional property: the soul is this additional property, which a properly organized body needs in order to be alive. John Vella uses Frankenstein's monster to illustrate the second interpretation: the corpse lying on Frankenstein's table is already a fully organized human body, but it is not yet alive; when Frankenstein activates his machine, the corpse gains a new property, the property of life, which Aristotle would call the soul.

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  Further Remarks:
  1. Note that the concept can be spelled “hyle …” as well as “hylo …”, so I’ve included both spellings in searches.

References

• Relevant Works cited above:
  1. "Cohen (S. Mark) & Reeve (C.D.C.) - Aristotle’s Metaphysics", 2020, External Link, Read = 6%
  2. "Keles (Serap) - Personal identity and persistence over time : the hybrid view with regard to hylomorphism", 2020, External Link, Internal PDF Link, Read = 1%
  3. "Quitterer (Josef) - Hylomorphism and the Constitution View", 2010, Read = 50%
  4. "Wikipedia - Hylomorphism", 2014, External Link, Internal PDF Link, Read
• For a page of Links⁷ to this Note, Click here.
• Works on this topic that I’ve actually read⁸, include the following:-
  • General:
    1. "Olson (Eric) - What Are We? Souls", 2007, Write-Up Note⁹, Internal PDF Link
    2. "Wikipedia - Hylomorphism", 2014, External Link, Internal PDF Link
• A further reading list might start with:-
  • General:
    1. "Bailey (Andrew M.) - The Priority Principle", 2014, External Link, Internal PDF Link, Read = 25%
    2. "Bynum (Caroline) - Resurrection, Hylomorphism, and Abundantia: Scholastic Debates in the Thirteenth Century", 2008?
    3. "Cohen (S. Mark) & Reeve (C.D.C.) - Aristotle’s Metaphysics", 2020, External Link, Read = 6%
    4. "De Haan (Daniel D.) - Hylomorphic Animalism, Emergentism, and the Challenge of the New Mechanist Philosophy of Neuroscience", 2017, Internal PDF Link, Read = 8%
    5. "De Haan (Daniel D.) - Hylomorphism And The New Mechanist Philosophy In Biology, Neuroscience, And Psychology", 2017, Internal PDF Link, Read = 8%
    6. "De Haan (Daniel D.) - The Interaction of Noetic and Psychosomatic Operations in a Thomist Hylomorphic Anthropology", 2018, Internal PDF Link, Read = 8%
    7. "Feser (Edward) - Personal Identity and Self-Ownership", 2005, Internal PDF Link
    8. "Hershenov (David) - A Hylomorphic Account of Thought Experiments Concerning Personal Identity", 2008, External Link, Internal PDF Link, Read = 6%
    9. "Hershenov (David) - Are There Too Many Hylomorphic Individuals Thinking about this Life and the Next?", 2017, External Link, Internal PDF Link, Read = 11%
    10. "Hershenov (David) - How a Hylomorphic Metaphysics Constrains the Abortion Debate", 2005, External Link, Internal PDF Link, Read = 8%
    11. "Hershenov (David) - Soulless Organisms? Hylomorphism vs. Animalism", 2011, External Link, Internal PDF Link, Read = 5%
    12. "Hershenov (David) & Koch-Hershenov (Rose J.) - Purgatory", 2017, External Link, Internal PDF Link, Read = 5%
    13. "Hershenov (David) & Koch-Hershenov (Rose J.) - The Relevance of Metaphysics to the Morality of Abortion", Undated, External Link, Internal PDF Link
    14. "Johnston (Mark) - Hylomorphism", 2006, Internal PDF Link, Read = 3%
    15. "Keles (Serap) - Personal identity and persistence over time : the hybrid view with regard to hylomorphism", 2020, External Link, Internal PDF Link, Read = 1%
    16. "Koslicki (Kathrin) - Substance, Independence and Unity", 2013, External Link, Internal PDF Link, Read = 12%
    17. "Koslicki (Kathrin) - Towards a Hylomorphic Solution to the Grounding Problem", 2018, External Link, Internal PDF Link, Read = 4%
    18. "Marmodoro (Anna) - Aristotle’s Hylomorphism without Reconditioning", 2013, External Link, Internal PDF Link, Read = 7%
    19. "Oderberg (David) - Hylemorphic Dualism", 2005, Internal PDF Link
    20. "Quitterer (Josef) - Hylomorphism and the Constitution View", 2010, Read = 50%
    21. "Toner (Patrick) - Hylemorphic animalism", 2011, Internal PDF Link, Read = 13%
• For further papers held on-line of potential interest, follow this Link¹⁰. 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-holder¹¹.

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Table of the Previous 7 Versions of this Note:

Date	Length	Title
20/09/2022 11:24:00	5284	Hylomorphism
09/05/2022 17:15:22	4693	Hylomorphism
12/02/2021 23:58:34	4496	Hylomorphism
05/12/2019 10:16:19	3807	Hylomorphism
01/03/2018 00:46:05	4898	Hylomorphism
26/03/2014 19:09:07	3073	Hylomorphism
01/07/2013 08:36:58	89	Hylomorphism

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

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Summary of Notes Referenced by This Note

Animalism	Awaiting Attention (Personal Identity)	Constitution View	Hybrid Theories	Note Links Explanation
Olson - What Are We? Souls	PID Note, Book & Paper Usage	Plug Note Apologia	Reincarnation	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

Baker - Review - Olson - What Are We?	Christian Materialism	Hybrid Theories	Metaphysics	Olson - Immanent Causation and Life After Death, 2, 3
Olson - Personal Identity - Oxford Bibliographies Online, 2	Olson - What Are We? Animals	Olson - What Are We? The Question, 2	Olson - What Are We? What Now?	PID Note, Book & Paper Usage, 2, 3, 4
RIP: The Royal Institute of Philosophy - Podcasts	Thesis - Chapter 02 (What are We?)	Thesis - Chapter 07 (The Constitution View and Arguments for It), 2, 3, 4, 5, 6	Thesis - Personal Identity, 2, 3	Website Generator Documentation - Functors, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
Woolhouse - Leibniz and Substance, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6	Woolhouse - Locke’s Theory of Knowledge, 2

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
Bailey (Andrew M.)	The Priority Principle	Paper
Baker (Lynne Rudder)	Review of 'What Are We? A Study in Personal Ontology' by Eric T. Olson	Paper		Yes
Bynum (Caroline)	Resurrection, Hylomorphism, and Abundantia: Scholastic Debates in the Thirteenth Century	Paper
Cooper (John)	Body, Soul and Life Everlasting: Preface to the Second Printing	Paper		Yes
Corcoran (Kevin)	Rethinking Human Nature: A Christian Materialist Alternative to the Soul	Book	2
De Haan (Daniel D.)	Hylomorphic Animalism, Emergentism, and the Challenge of the New Mechanist Philosophy of Neuroscience	Paper	2, 3, 4, 5, 6
De Haan (Daniel D.)	Hylomorphism And The New Mechanist Philosophy In Biology, Neuroscience, And Psychology	Paper	2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12
De Haan (Daniel D.)	The Interaction of Noetic and Psychosomatic Operations in a Thomist Hylomorphic Anthropology	Paper
Feser (Edward)	Personal Identity and Self-Ownership	Paper
Hershenov (David)	N/A	Author	2
Hershenov (David)	A Hylomorphic Account of Thought Experiments Concerning Personal Identity	Paper
Hershenov (David)	Are There Too Many Hylomorphic Individuals Thinking about this Life and the Next?	Paper
Hershenov (David)	How a Hylomorphic Metaphysics Constrains the Abortion Debate	Paper	2, 3, 4, 5, 6
Hershenov (David)	Soulless Organisms? Hylomorphism vs. Animalism	Paper	2
Hershenov (David) & Koch-Hershenov (Rose J.)	Anscombe on Embryos and Persons	Paper
Hershenov (David) & Koch-Hershenov (Rose J.)	Fission and Confusion	Paper	2
Hershenov (David) & Koch-Hershenov (Rose J.)	Personal identity and Purgatory	Paper
Hershenov (David) & Koch-Hershenov (Rose J.)	Purgatory	Paper	2
Hershenov (David) & Koch-Hershenov (Rose J.)	The Relevance of Metaphysics to the Morality of Abortion	Paper	2
Johnston (Mark)	Surviving Death	Book
Koslicki (Kathrin)	Essence and Identity	Paper	2, 3
Koslicki (Kathrin)	Substance, Independence and Unity	Paper	2, 3, 4
Koslicki (Kathrin)	Towards a Hylomorphic Solution to the Grounding Problem	Paper	2
Marmodoro (Anna)	Aristotle’s Hylomorphism without Reconditioning	Paper	2, 3, 4, 5, 6
Oderberg (David)	Hylemorphic Dualism	Paper
Olson (Eric)	Immanent Causation and Life After Death	Paper	2, 3	Yes
Olson (Eric)	Personal Identity - Oxford Bibliographies Online	Paper	2	Yes
Olson (Eric)	What Are We? Animals	Paper		Yes
Olson (Eric)	What Are We? Souls	Paper		Yes
Olson (Eric)	What Are We? The Question	Paper	2	Yes
Olson (Eric)	What Are We? What Now?	Paper		Yes
Quitterer (Josef)	Hylomorphism and the Constitution View	Paper	2
RIP	The Royal Institute of Philosophy - Podcasts	Paper
Thompson (Jon W.)	Personal Identity and Resurrection: Early Modern Philosophical Perspectives	Paper	2, 3	Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Chapter 02 (What Are We?)	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Chapter 07 (The Constitution View and Arguments for It)	Paper	2, 3, 4, 5, 6	Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Christian Materialism	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Hybrid Theories	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Metaphysics	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Personal Identity	Paper	2, 3	Yes
Toner (Patrick)	Hylemorphic animalism	Paper	2, 3
Walsh (Denis) & Wiebe (Kayla)	The Being of Living Beings: Foundationalist Materialism versus Hylomorphism	Paper	2, 3
Wikipedia	Hylomorphism	Paper		Yes
Woolhouse (Roger)	Leibniz and Substance	Paper	2, 3, 4, 5, 6	Yes
Woolhouse (Roger)	Locke's Theory of Knowledge	Paper	2	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
Bailey (Andrew M.)	The Priority Principle	Paper - Cited	Journal of the American Philosophical Association (2014) 1–12	25%
Baker (Lynne Rudder)	Review of 'What Are We? A Study in Personal Ontology' by Eric T. Olson	Paper - Referencing	Mind, 117:1120-1122, 2008	Yes
Bynum (Caroline)	Resurrection of the Body in Western Christianity, 200 - 1336	Book - Cited (via Paper Cited)	Bibliographical details to be supplied	4%
Bynum (Caroline)	Resurrection, Hylomorphism, and Abundantia: Scholastic Debates in the Thirteenth Century	Paper - Cited	Bynum (Caroline) - Resurrection of the Body in Western Christianity, 200 - 1336, Chapter 6	No
Cohen (S. Mark) & Reeve (C.D.C.)	Aristotle’s Metaphysics	Paper - Cited	Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy, 2000-2020	6%
Cooper (John)	Body, Soul and Life Everlasting: Biblical Anthropology and the Monism-dualism Debate	Book - Referencing (via Paper Referencing)	Bibliographical details to be supplied	23%
Cooper (John)	Body, Soul and Life Everlasting: Preface to the Second Printing	Paper - Referencing	Cooper (John) - Body, Soul and Life Everlasting, 1989, Preface	Yes
De Haan (Daniel D.)	Hylomorphic Animalism, Emergentism, and the Challenge of the New Mechanist Philosophy of Neuroscience	Paper - By Subtopic	Scientia Et Fides, 5(2)/2017	8%
De Haan (Daniel D.)	Hylomorphism And The New Mechanist Philosophy In Biology, Neuroscience, And Psychology	Paper - By Subtopic	William Simpson, Robert Koons & Nicholas Teh (eds.), Neo-Aristotelian Perspectives on Contemporary Science (Routledge, 2017)	8%
De Haan (Daniel D.)	The Interaction of Noetic and Psychosomatic Operations in a Thomist Hylomorphic Anthropology	Paper - By Subtopic	Scientia Et Fides, 6(2)/2018, pp. 9–38	8%
Feser (Edward)	Personal Identity and Self-Ownership	Paper - Referencing	Paul, Miller & Paul - Personal Identity, 2005	No
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%
Hershenov (David)	A Hylomorphic Account of Thought Experiments Concerning Personal Identity	Paper - By Subtopic	American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly, 82:3, pp. 2008. 481-502	6%
Hershenov (David)	Are There Too Many Hylomorphic Individuals Thinking about this Life and the Next?	Paper - By Subtopic	Keynote for the Talbot Philosophical Society Graduate Conference	11%
Hershenov (David)	How a Hylomorphic Metaphysics Constrains the Abortion Debate	Paper - By Subtopic	National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly. 5:4, 2005, 751-764	8%
Hershenov (David)	Review of Nancey Murphy's 'Bodies and Souls, or Spirited Bodies?'	Paper - By Subtopic	Religious Studies, 43:2, June 2007, 237-242	Yes
Hershenov (David)	Soulless Organisms? Hylomorphism vs. Animalism	Paper - By Subtopic	American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly, 85 (3):465-482 (2011)	5%
Hershenov (David) & Koch-Hershenov (Rose J.)	The Relevance of Metaphysics to the Morality of Abortion	Paper - By Subtopic	Mind. (Resubmission Requested)	No
Johnston (Mark)	Hylomorphism	Paper - By Subtopic	The Journal of Philosophy, Vol. 103, No. 12, Special Issue: Parts and Wholes (Dec.,2006), pp. 652-698	3%
Karaca (Caglar)	Relational Basis Of The Organism’s Self-Organization	Paper - By Subtopic	Academia.edu, Essex University	1%
Keles (Serap)	Personal identity and persistence over time : the hybrid view with regard to hylomorphism	Paper - Cited	PhD Thesis, London Metropolitan University, February 2020	1%
Koslicki (Kathrin)	Towards a Hylomorphic Solution to the Grounding Problem	Paper - By Subtopic	Royal Institute of Philosophy Supplements, Volume 82 (Metaphysics) - July 2018, pp. 333-364	4%
Marmodoro (Anna)	Aristotle’s Hylomorphism without Reconditioning	Paper - By Subtopic	Philosophical Inquiry Vol 36, Nos. 1-2, pp. 5-22, 2013	7%
Oderberg (David)	Hylemorphic Dualism	Paper - By Subtopic	Paul, Miller & Paul - Personal Identity, 2005	No
O'Hear (Anthony), Ed.	Metaphysics	Book - By Subtopic (via Paper By Subtopic)	O'Hear (Anthony), Ed. - Metaphysics	8%
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)	What are We? A Study of Personal Ontology	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)	What Are We? Souls	Paper - Cited	What Are We? A Study in Personal Ontology, Chapter 7 (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)	What Are We? What Now?	Paper - Referencing	What Are We? A Study in Personal Ontology, Chapter 9 (November 2007: Oxford University Press.)	Yes
Paul (Ellen), Miller (Fred) & Paul (Jeffrey), Eds.	Personal Identity	Book - By Subtopic (via Paper By Subtopic)	Paul (Ellen), Miller (Fred) & Paul (Jeffrey), Eds. - Personal Identity	0%
Paul (Ellen), Miller (Fred) & Paul (Jeffrey), Eds.	Personal Identity	Book - Referencing (via Paper Referencing)	Bibliographical details to be supplied	0%
Quitterer (Josef)	Hylomorphism and the Constitution View	Paper - Cited	Gasser (Georg) - Personal Identity and Resurrection: How Do We Survive Our Death? 2010	50%
RIP	The Royal Institute of Philosophy - Podcasts	Paper - Referencing	RIP, Various Dates	8%
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Chapter 07 (The Constitution View and Arguments for It)	Paper - Referencing		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Christian Materialism	Paper - Referencing		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Hylomorphism	Paper - Referencing		Yes
Toner (Patrick)	Hylemorphic animalism	Paper - Referencing	Philosophical Studies, Vol. 155, No. 1 (August 2011), pp. 65-81	13%
Toner (Patrick)	Hylemorphism, remnant persons and personhood	Paper - By Subtopic	Canadian Journal of Philosophy , February 2014, Vol. 44, No. 1, pp. 76-96	6%
Wikipedia	Hylomorphism	Paper - Cited	Wikipedia, last modified on 1 January 2014	Yes

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Text Colour Conventions

1. Blue: Text by me; © Theo Todman, 2025
2. Mauve: Text by correspondent(s) or other author(s); © the author(s)

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