Theo Todman's Web Page - Notes Pages
Personal Identity
Thesis - Chapter 08 (Arguments against Animalism)
(Text as at 05/04/2016 23:19:41)
*** 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)
Abstract
- A discussion of the arguments against animalism, as given by those of anti-animalist persuasion and defended by the principal animalists (with a focus on Eric Olson), with a critique.
Research Methodology
- Follow this Link1 for a generic statement of how I intend to pursue each Chapter.
- The method is broken down into 12, possibly iterative, stages.
- Follow this Link2 for my progress dashboard on these tasks.
Chapter Introduction
- To be supplied.
Main Text
- To be supplied.
Links to Books / Papers to be Addressed3
- In this Chapter I will consider the following papers or book chapters (together with some others referenced by these). There are doubtless many more that are relevant and which will be addressed in the course of the thesis, but these are probably sufficient to get us going.
- I’ve not been overly careful to segregate the reading-list of this Chapter from that of Chapter 64. I will address the segregation in due course. There will, in any case, be some overlap.
- "Baker (Lynne Rudder) - Big-Tent Metaphysics", Baker
- "Belshaw (Christopher) - My Beginnings", Belshaw
- "Berglund (Stefan) - Animalism", Berglund
- "Blatti (Stephan) - Animalism, Dicephalus, and Borderline Cases", Blatti
- "Braine (David) - The Human Person: Animal and Spirit", Braine
- "Dainton (Barry) - Review of Eric Olson's 'The Human Animal: Personal Identity Without Psychology'", Dainton
- "Francescotti (Robert) - Fetuses, corpses and the psychological approach to personal identity", Francescotti
- "Garrett (Brian) - Animalism and Reductionism", Garrett
- "Garrett (Brian) - Some Thoughts on Animalism", Garrett
- "Gendler (Tamar Szabo) - Review of Eric Olson's 'The Human Animal: Personal Identity Without Psychology'", Gendler
- "Hershenov (David) - Do Dead Bodies Pose a Problem for Biological Approaches to Personal Identity", Hershenov
- "Hershenov (David) - Olson's Embryo Problem", Hershenov
- "Hershenov (David) - The Death of a Person", Hershenov
- "Hershenov (David) - The Problematic Role of ‘Irreversibility’ in the Definition of Death", Hershenov
- "Hudson (Hud) - I am Not an Animal!", Hudson
- "Koch-Hershenov (Rose J.) - Conjoined Twins and the Biological Account of Personal Identity", Koch-Hershenov
- "Larkin (William S.) - Persons, Animals, and Bodies", Larkin
- "Lockwood (Michael) - When Does a Life Begin?", Lockwood
- "Mackie (David) - Personal Identity and Dead People", Mackie
- "Markosian (Ned) - Three Problems for Olson's Account of Personal Identity", Markosian
- "Moran (Alexander P.) - Animalism and the Thinking Parts Problem", Moran
- "Noonan (Harold) - Animalism Versus Lockeanism: A Current Controversy", Noonan
- "Noonan (Harold) - Animalism versus Lockeanism: Reply to Mackie", Noonan
- "Noonan (Harold) - Arguments Against Animalism: Comments on L.R.Baker 'Persons & Bodies'", Noonan
- "Noonan (Harold) - Persons, Animals and Human Beings", Noonan
- "Noonan (Harold) - Persons, Animals and Human Beings (2010)", Noonan
- "Olson (Eric), Etc. - Abstracta Special Issue on 'The Human Animal'", Olson
- "Olson (Eric) - Animalism and the Corpse Problem", Olson
- "Olson (Eric) - Animalism and the Remnant-Person Problem", Olson
- "Olson (Eric) - Reply to Lynne Rudder Baker", Olson
- "Olson (Eric) - The Metaphysical Implications of Conjoined Twining", Olson
- "Olson (Eric) - The Person and the Corpse", Olson
- "Persson (Ingmar) - Our Identity and the Separability of Person and Organism", Persson
- "Rosenberg (Jay) - Bodies, Corpses, and Chunks of Matter: A Reply to Carter", Rosenberg
- "Shoemaker (Sydney) - Review of Eric Olson's 'The Human Animal: Personal Identity Without Psychology'", Shoemaker_S
- "Shoemaker (Sydney) - Self, Body, and Coincidence", Shoemaker_S
- "Snowdon (Paul) - Personal Identity and Brain Transplants", Snowdon
- "Snowdon (Paul) - Persons, Animals, and Bodies", Snowdon
- "Snowdon (Paul) - Some Objections to Animalism", Snowdon
- "Sutton (Catherine S.) - The Supervenience Solution to the Too-Many-Thinkers Problem", Sutton
- "Thornton (Mark) - Same Human Being, Same Person?", Thornton
- "Unger (Peter) - The Survival of the Sentient", Unger
- "Zimmerman (Dean) - Material People", Zimmerman
- "Zimmerman (Dean) - Problems for Animalism", Zimmerman
- Many aspects of these papers will need to be either ignored or reserved for other chapters.
- The motivation for these works is as follows:-
The Cut
- There had already been a lot of cutting in the various selections of the original reading list – the reading lists attached to the Notes run on and on – and these items just represent the works in my possession (though I have sought out all that I’ve heard of that look relevant).
- However, the items in the lists following were given some attention, and have been culled – at least temporarily – from the lists above, where they originally appeared. I’ve not always given a reason as I’ve not studied them sufficiently closely. But, you have to draw a line somewhere.
- I’m well aware that the cut has not been sufficiently rigorous. Further items beyond the items below are likely to be culled when I come to process them.
Links to Notes5
- Animalism - Objections6,
- Animalism7.
Final Remarks
- This is work in progress8.
In-Page Footnotes
Footnote 3:
- See the section on Research Methodology for what is to be done with these.
- The author’s surname is repeated in the text to make it easier for me to see what’s going on in the encoded text I work on.
Footnote 5:
- There is effectively a 1-1-match between this Chapter and the Note Animalism – Objections.
- I imagine that this Chapter will be more focussed and less exploratory than the Note.
Live Version of this Archived Note
Table of the 5 Earlier Versions of this Note
Table of the 10 Later Versions of this Note
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
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