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Personal Identity

Simple View

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

Plug Note¹

• Thesis Text:
  1. Most theories of personal identity assume that PI is reducible to something else, so is to be analysed in terms of physical or psychological continuities, or to be explained by our being human animals.
  2. The simple view is just the contrary of the above:-
     1. "Olson (Eric) - In Search of the Simple View" denies that the distinction is coherent.
     2. "Gasser (Georg) & Stefan (Matthias), Eds. - Personal Identity: Complex or Simple?" (in which the above paper appears) discusses various arguments pro and con.
     3. See "Coliva (Annalisa) - Review of Gasser & Stefan, Eds. - Personal Identity: Complex or Simple?" for a review of the above.
     4. It’s probably best to start with "Gasser (Georg) & Stefan (Matthias) - Personal Identity: Complex or Simple? Introduction".
        
  3. It seems that Baker’s Constitution View² is a form of the Simple View: see "Baker (Lynne Rudder) - Personal Identity: A Not-So-Simple Simple View".

References

• Relevant Works cited above:
  1. "Baker (Lynne Rudder) - Personal Identity: A Not-So-Simple Simple View", 2012, Internal PDF Link, Read = 8%
  2. "Coliva (Annalisa) - Review of Gasser & Stefan, Eds. - Personal Identity: Complex or Simple?", 2013, Internal PDF Link, Read
  3. "Gasser (Georg) & Stefan (Matthias) - Personal Identity: Complex or Simple? Introduction", 2012, Internal PDF Link, Read = 33%
  4. "Gasser (Georg) & Stefan (Matthias), Eds. - Personal Identity: Complex or Simple?", 2012, Book, Read = 4%
  5. "Olson (Eric) - In Search of the Simple View", 2012, Internal PDF Link
• For a page of Links³ to this Note, Click here.
• Works on this topic that I’ve actually read⁴, include the following:-
  • General:
    1. "Catterson (Troy) - Introduction to Synthese Special Issue on Personal Identity", 2008, Annotations, Internal PDF Link
    2. "Coliva (Annalisa) - Review of Gasser & Stefan, Eds. - Personal Identity: Complex or Simple?", 2013, Internal PDF Link
    3. "Farris (Joshua) - What’s So Simple About Personal Identity?", 2015, Internal PDF Link
    4. "Noonan (Harold) - An Initial Survey", 2003, Annotations
    5. "Olson (Eric) - What Are We? The Question", 2007, Write-Up Note⁵, Internal PDF Link
• A further reading list might start with:-
  • General:
    1. "Akiba (Ken) - Identity Is Simple", 2000, Internal PDF Link, Read = 20%, Footnote₆
    2. "Baillie (James) - Aspects of Non-Reductionism", 1993
    3. "Baker (Lynne Rudder) - Personal Identity: A Not-So-Simple Simple View", 2012, Internal PDF Link, Read = 8%
    4. "Barnett (David) - Chitchat On Personal Identity", 2012, Internal PDF Link
    5. "Buonomo (Valerio) - Identity Without Conditions: Challenging the Anti-Criterialist Approach about Personal Identity over Time", 2014, No Abstract, External Link, Internal PDF Link, Read = 1%
    6. "Catterson (Troy) - Changing the subject: on the subject of subjectivity", 2008, Internal PDF Link, Read = 6%
    7. "Doore (G.L.) - Mackie on Personal Identity", 1982, Internal PDF Link
    8. "Duncan (Matt) - A Challenge to Anti-Criterialism", 2014, Internal PDF Link, Read = 17%
    9. "Duncan (Matt) - A Renewed Challenge to Anti-Criterialism", 2018, External Link, Internal PDF Link, Read = 13%
    10. "Duncan (Matt) - Dualists Needn’t Be Anti-Criterialists (Nor Should They Be)", 2017, External Link, Internal PDF Link, Read = 11%
    11. "Gasser (Georg) & Stefan (Matthias) - Personal Identity: Complex or Simple? Introduction", 2012, Internal PDF Link, Read = 33%
    12. "Gasser (Georg) & Stefan (Matthias), Eds. - Personal Identity: Complex or Simple?", 2012, Book, Read = 4%
    13. "Hudson (Hud) - The Morphing Block And Diachronic Personal Identity", 2012, Internal PDF Link
    14. "Lowe (E.J.) - The Probable Simplicity Of Personal Identity", 2012, Internal PDF Link
    15. "Madell (Geoffrey) - The Identity of the Self", 1985, Book
    16. "Nida-Rumelin (Martine) - Chisholm on Personal Identity and the Attribution of Experiences", 1997
    17. "Nida-Rumelin (Martine) - The Non-Descriptive Individual Nature Of Conscious Beings", 2012, Internal PDF Link
    18. "Noonan (Harold) - Personal Identity And Its Perplexities", 2012, Internal PDF Link
    19. "Noonan (Harold) - The Complex and Simple Views of Personal Identity", 2011, Internal PDF Link, Read = 17%
    20. "Olson (Eric) - In Search of the Simple View", 2012, Internal PDF Link
    21. "Shoemaker (Sydney) - Against Simplicity", 2012, Internal PDF Link
    22. "Shoemaker (Sydney) - Reply To E. J. Lowe", 2012, Internal PDF Link
    23. "Southgate (Susan Jane) - Personal Identity: The Simple View", 1993, External Link, Internal PDF Link
    24. "Wasserman (Ryan) - Personal Identity, Indeterminacy And Obligation", 2012, Internal PDF Link
    25. "Zimmerman (Dean) - Materialism, Dualism, and “Simple” Theories of Personal Identity", 2012, 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-holder⁷.

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In-Page Footnotes:

Footnote 6:

• This seems to be saying that the concept of identity is simple, not that Personal Identity is irreducible to something else.

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Table of the Previous 7 Versions of this Note:

Date	Length	Title
20/09/2022 11:24:00	2923	Simple View
01/05/2022 18:20:10	2542	Simple View
17/02/2021 18:50:24	2316	Simple View
30/11/2019 22:58:05	1495	Simple View
14/07/2019 18:05:46	1429	Simple View
07/11/2018 17:03:50	3540	Simple View
20/10/2015 23:12:29	1237	Simple View

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

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Summary of Notes Referenced by This Note

Awaiting Attention (Personal Identity)	Constitution View	Note Links Explanation	Olson - What Are We? The Question	Plug Note Apologia
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 - Personal Identity Over Time, 2, 3	Johnston - Human Beings	Natural Kinds	Olson - What Are We? The Question	Olson - What Are We? What Now?
PID Note, Book & Paper Usage, 2, 3, 4	Reductionism	Thesis - Chapter 03 (What is a Person?), 2, 3, 4, 5, 6	Thesis - Chapter 04 (Basic Metaphysical Issues)	Thesis - Personal Identity, 2, 3, 4
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?
Akiba (Ken)	Identity Is Simple	Paper	2
Baillie (James)	Aspects of Non-Reductionism	Paper
Baker (Lynne Rudder)	Personal Identity Over Time	Paper	2, 3	Yes
Catterson (Troy)	Changing the subject: on the subject of subjectivity	Paper
Catterson (Troy)	Introduction to Synthese Special Issue on Personal Identity	Paper		Yes
Coliva (Annalisa)	Review of Gasser & Stefan, Eds. - Personal Identity: Complex or Simple?	Paper	2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8	Yes
Farris (Joshua)	What’s So Simple About Personal Identity?	Paper	2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7	Yes
Johnston (Mark)	Human Beings	Paper		Yes
Lowe (E.J.)	Review of Noonan's 'Personal Identity'	Paper	2
Madden (Rory)	Self-Consciousness and its Linguistic Expression	Paper
Madell (Geoffrey)	The Identity of the Self	Book
McCann (Hugh J.)	Settled Objectives and Rational Constraints	Paper
Noonan (Harold)	An Initial Survey	Paper		Yes
Olson (Eric)	In Search of the Simple View	Paper
Olson (Eric)	What Are We? The Question	Paper		Yes
Olson (Eric)	What Are We? What Now?	Paper		Yes
Southgate (Susan Jane)	Personal Identity: The Simple View	Paper	2, 3
Swinburne (Richard)	How To Determine Which Is The True Theory Of Personal Identity	Paper
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Chapter 03 (What is a Person?)	Paper	2, 3, 4, 5, 6	Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Chapter 04 (Basic Metaphysical Issues)	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Natural Kinds	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Personal Identity	Paper	2, 3, 4	Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Reductionism	Paper		Yes
Zimmerman (Dean)	Materialism, Dualism, and “Simple” Theories of Personal Identity	Paper	2

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References & Reading List

Author	Title	Medium	Source	Read?
Akiba (Ken)	Identity Is Simple	Paper - Cited	American Philosophical Quarterly, Vol. 37, No. 4 (Oct., 2000), pp. 389-404	20%
Akiba (Ken)	Identity Is Simple	Paper - Referencing	American Philosophical Quarterly, Vol. 37, No. 4 (Oct., 2000), pp. 389-404	20%
Baillie (James)	Aspects of Non-Reductionism	Paper - By Subtopic	Baillie (James) - Problems in Personal Identity, 1993, Chapter 3	No
Baillie (James)	Problems in Personal Identity	Book - By Subtopic (via Paper By Subtopic)	Baillie (James) - Problems in Personal Identity	45%
Baker (Lynne Rudder)	Personal Identity Over Time	Paper - Referencing	Baker (Lynne) - Persons and Bodies, Chapter 5, pp. 118-146	Yes
Baker (Lynne Rudder)	Personal Identity: A Not-So-Simple Simple View	Paper - Cited	Gasser (Georg) & Stefan (Matthias), Eds. - Personal Identity: Complex or Simple? 2012	8%
Baker (Lynne Rudder)	Persons and Bodies: A Constitution View	Book - Referencing (via Paper Referencing)	Bibliographical details to be supplied	Yes
Barnett (David)	Chitchat On Personal Identity	Paper - By Subtopic	Gasser (Georg) & Stefan (Matthias), Eds. - Personal Identity: Complex or Simple? 2012	No
Buonomo (Valerio)	Identity Without Conditions: Challenging the Anti-Criterialist Approach about Personal Identity over Time	Paper - By Subtopic	MA Thesis, University of Milan, 2014	1%
Catterson (Troy)	Changing the subject: on the subject of subjectivity	Paper - By Subtopic	Synthese, Vol. 162, No. 3 (Jun., 2008), pp. 385-404	6%
Catterson (Troy)	Introduction to Synthese Special Issue on Personal Identity	Paper - Cited	Synthese, Vol. 162, No. 3 (Jun., 2008), pp. 309-311	Yes
Catterson (Troy), Ed.	Synthese Special Issue on Personal Identity	Book - By Subtopic	Catterson (Troy), Ed. - Synthese Special Issue on Personal Identity	3%
Coliva (Annalisa)	Review of Gasser & Stefan, Eds. - Personal Identity: Complex or Simple?	Paper - Cited	Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews	Yes
Duncan (Matt)	A Challenge to Anti-Criterialism	Paper - By Subtopic	Erkenntnis (1975-), Vol. 79, No. 2 (April 2014), pp. 283-296	17%
Duncan (Matt)	A Renewed Challenge to Anti-Criterialism	Paper - By Subtopic	Erkenntnis, 2018, pp. 1-18	13%
Duncan (Matt)	Dualists Needn’t Be Anti-Criterialists (Nor Should They Be)	Paper - By Subtopic	Philosophical Studies, April 2017, Volume 174, Issue 4, pp 945–963	11%
Duncan (Matt)	I Think, Therefore I Persist	Paper - By Subtopic	Australasian Journal of Philosophy, Volume 93, 2015 - Issue 4, Pages 740-756	Yes
Farris (Joshua)	What’s So Simple About Personal Identity?	Paper - By Subtopic	Philosophy Now, Oct/Nov 2015	Yes
Gasser (Georg) & Stefan (Matthias)	Personal Identity: Complex or Simple? Introduction	Paper - Cited	Gasser (Georg) & Stefan (Matthias), Eds. - Personal Identity: Complex or Simple? 2012	33%
Gasser (Georg) & Stefan (Matthias), Eds.	Personal Identity: Complex or Simple?	Book - Cited	Gasser (Georg) & Stefan (Matthias), Eds. - Personal Identity: Complex or Simple?	4%
Johnston (Mark)	Human Beings	Paper - Referencing	Journal of Philosophy, Volume 84, Issue 2 (Feb 1987), 59-83	Yes
Kanzian (Christian)	Is 'Person' a Sortal Term?	Paper - By Subtopic	Gasser (Georg) & Stefan (Matthias), Eds. - Personal Identity: Complex or Simple? 2012	No
Lowe (E.J.)	The Probable Simplicity Of Personal Identity	Paper - By Subtopic	Gasser (Georg) & Stefan (Matthias), Eds. - Personal Identity: Complex or Simple? 2012	No
Madell (Geoffrey)	The Identity of the Self	Book - Cited	Madell (Geoffrey) - The Identity of the Self	No
Maurer (Nicholas)	Too Many Persons, or None At All?	Paper - By Subtopic	Academia.edu	Yes
Noonan (Harold)	The Complex and Simple Views of Personal Identity	Paper - By Subtopic	Analysis, 71 (1), pp. 72-77. 2011	17%
Olson (Eric)	In Search of the Simple View	Paper - Cited	Gasser (Georg) & Stefan (Matthias), Eds. - Personal Identity: Complex or Simple? 2012	No
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? 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
Shoemaker (Sydney)	Against Simplicity	Paper - By Subtopic	Gasser (Georg) & Stefan (Matthias), Eds. - Personal Identity: Complex or Simple? 2012	No
Shoemaker (Sydney)	Reply To E. J. Lowe	Paper - By Subtopic	Gasser (Georg) & Stefan (Matthias), Eds. - Personal Identity: Complex or Simple? 2012	No
Southgate (Susan Jane)	Personal Identity: The Simple View	Paper - By Subtopic	Durham PhD Thesis, 1993	0%
Swinburne (Richard)	How To Determine Which Is The True Theory Of Personal Identity	Paper - By Subtopic	Gasser (Georg) & Stefan (Matthias), Eds. - Personal Identity: Complex or Simple? 2012	40%
Thomson (Garrett)	Counting subjects	Paper - By Subtopic	Synthese, Vol. 162, No. 3 (Jun., 2008), pp. 373-384	8%
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Simple View	Paper - By Subtopic		Yes
Williams (Christopher)	On Sameness And Selfhood	Paper - By Subtopic	Harry A. Lewis (ed.), Peter Geach: Philosophical Encounters, 195-212, 1991 Springer Science+Business Media, New York	No
Zimmerman (Dean)	Materialism, Dualism, and “Simple” Theories of Personal Identity	Paper - By Subtopic	Gasser (Georg) & Stefan (Matthias), Eds. - Personal Identity: Complex or Simple? 2012	No

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Text Colour Conventions

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

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