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Personal Identity

Tibbles the Cat

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

Plug Note¹

• Thesis Text:
  1. There appear to be two puzzles involving Tib and Tibbles, both due to Peter Geach.
     
     1. Tibbles and Tib – his tail-less concommitant – feature firstly as a variant of Dion and Theon².
     2. There’s also a variant of the Problem of the Many³, in which Tibbles loses 1,000 hairs one by one.
        
  2. I’m not sure there’s much that will need to be added here that’s not to be covered in one or other of those two Notes.
  3. I note in passing that "Parsons (Josh) - Dion, Theon, and DAUP" refers to "Van Inwagen (Peter) - The Doctrine of Arbitrary Undetached Parts" and the problem of Descartes’ Foot, another variant on this theme.

References

• Relevant Works cited above:
  1. "Parsons (Josh) - Dion, Theon, and DAUP", 2004, Annotations, Internal PDF Link, Read
  2. "Van Inwagen (Peter) - The Doctrine of Arbitrary Undetached Parts", 1981, Internal PDF Link
• For a Page of Links⁴ to this Note, Click here.
• Works on this topic that I’ve actually read⁵, include the following:-
  • General:
    1. "Noonan (Harold) - Quine on Synchronic Identity", 1980, Internal PDF Link
    2. "Noonan (Harold) - Review of 'Kinds of Being: A Study of Individuation, Identity and the Logic of Sortal Terms' by E. J. Lowe", 1991, Internal PDF Link
    3. "Parsons (Josh) - Dion, Theon, and DAUP", 2004, Annotations, Internal PDF Link
    4. "Wiggins (David) - On Being in the Same Place at the Same Time", 1968, Annotations, External Link, Internal PDF Link
• A reading list (where not covered elsewhere) might start with the items below. I’ve listed only those that specifically refer to cats! Follow links from Dion and Theon⁶ for other related items:-
  • General:
    1. "Blatti (Stephan) - Material Constitution", 2012, Annotations, External Link, Internal PDF Link, Read = 28%
    2. "Burke (Michael) - Tibbles the Cat: A Modern Sophisma", 1996, Internal PDF Link
    3. "Doyle (Robert O.) - Tibbles, the Cat", 2018, No Abstract, External Link, Internal PDF Link
    4. "Johansson (Ingvar) - Identity Puzzles and Supervenient Identities", 2006, Internal PDF Link
    5. "Jones (Nicholas K.) - Too Many Cats: The Problem of the Many and the Metaphysics of Vagueness", 2010, External Link, Internal PDF Link
    6. "Lowe (E.J.) - Parts and Wholes", 2009
    7. "Lowe (E.J.) - Substantial Change and Spatiotemporal Coincidence", 2002
    8. "Lowe (E.J.) - The Paradox of the 1,001 Cats", 1982, Internal PDF Link
    9. "McGrath (Matthew) - Four-Dimensionalism and the Puzzles of Coincidence", 2007, Footnote₇
    10. "Noonan (Harold) - Synchronic Identity as Relative Identity", 1980, Internal PDF Link, Read = 33%
    11. "Noonan (Harold) - Tibbles the Cat - A Reply to Burke", 1999, Internal PDF Link
    12. "Rea (Michael) - The Problem of Material Constitution", 1995, Internal PDF Link
    13. "Rea (Michael), Ed. - Material Constitution - A Reader", 1997, Book, Read = 41%, Footnote₈
    14. "Van Inwagen (Peter) - The Doctrine of Arbitrary Undetached Parts", 1981, 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-holder⁹.

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In-Page Footnotes:

Footnote 7:

• This looks like an important paper, which rejects the “proofs” of 4D based on the “coincidence” TEs.

Footnote 8:

• This book has been selected because of the discussion of Tibbles by an Amazon reviewer!

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Table of the Previous 6 Versions of this Note:

Date	Length	Title
20/09/2022 11:24:00	2640	Tibbles the Cat
10/05/2022 17:45:36	2217	Tibbles the Cat
18/02/2021 01:01:55	2174	Tibbles the Cat
30/09/2020 21:33:07	1507	Tibbles the Cat
23/07/2018 23:00:58	3617	Tibbles the Cat
14/01/2017 20:18:14	1259	Tibbles the Cat

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Note last updated	Reading List for this Topic	Parent Topic
06/07/2023 00:43:12	Tibbles the Cat	Constitution

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Summary of Notes Referenced by This Note

Awaiting Attention (Personal Identity)	Dion and Theon	Note Links Explanation	Plug Note Apologia	Problem of the Many
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

Carter – Artifacts of Theseus	Coincidence	Constitution	Constitution View - Objections	Dion and Theon, 2, 3
Fine - The Non-Identity of a Material Thing and Its Matter (Essay), 2, 3	Jen_071112 (Thesis Chapter Breakdown)	Olson - What Are We?	Olson - What Are We? Animals	Personite
PID Note, Book & Paper Usage, 2, 3	Problem of the Many	Thesis - Chapter 03 (What is a Person?)	Thesis - Chapter 07 (The Constitution View and Arguments for It), 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8	Thesis - Chapter 09 (Arguments against the Constitution View)
Thesis - Chapter 12 (Conclusion)	Thesis - Current Stance	Thesis - Personal Identity, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8	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?
Blatti (Stephan)	Material Constitution	Paper
Burke (Michael)	Tibbles the Cat: A Modern Sophisma	Paper	2
Carter (William)	Artifacts of Theseus: Fact and Fission	Paper		Yes
Doyle (Robert O.)	N/A	Author
Johansson (Ingvar)	Identity Puzzles and Supervenient Identities	Paper
Kingma (Elselijn)	Were You Part of Your Mother?	Paper	2	Yes
Lowe (E.J.)	Parts and Wholes	Paper	2, 3, 4, 5
Lowe (E.J.)	Substantial Change and Spatiotemporal Coincidence	Paper
Lowe (E.J.)	The Paradox of the 1,001 Cats	Paper	2, 3, 4
Marshall (Richard) & Olson (Eric)	Eric T. Olson: The Philosopher with No Hands	Paper		Yes
McGrath (Matthew)	Four-Dimensionalism and the Puzzles of Coincidence	Paper
Noonan (Harold)	Absolute and Relative Identity	Paper
Noonan (Harold)	Quine on Synchronic Identity	Paper		Yes
Noonan (Harold)	Review of 'Kinds of Being: A Study of Individuation, Identity and the Logic of Sortal Terms' by E. J. Lowe	Paper	2	Yes
Noonan (Harold)	Sortal Concepts and Identity	Paper
Noonan (Harold)	Synchronic Identity as Relative Identity	Paper
Noonan (Harold)	Tibbles the Cat - A Reply to Burke	Paper
Olson (Eric)	What Are We?	Paper		Yes
Olson (Eric)	What Are We? Animals	Paper		Yes
Parsons (Josh)	Dion, Theon, and DAUP	Paper		Yes
Rea (Michael)	The Problem of Material Constitution	Paper	2
Rea (Michael), Ed.	Material Constitution - A Reader	Book	2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Chapter 03 (What is a Person?)	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Chapter 07 (The Constitution View and Arguments for It)	Paper	2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8	Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Chapter 09 (Arguments against the Constitution View)	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Coincidence	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Constitution	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Constitution View - Objections	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Current Position	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Dion and Theon	Paper	2, 3	Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Personal Identity	Paper	2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8	Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Personite	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Problem of the Many	Paper		Yes
Wiggins (David)	On Being in the Same Place at the Same Time	Paper	2, 3	Yes

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References & Reading List

Author	Title	Medium	Source	Read?
Blatti (Stephan)	Material Constitution	Paper - Cited	Continuum Companion to Metaphysics, ed. Bob Barnard and Neil Manson (Continuum, 2012), 149-69	28%
Burke (Michael)	Tibbles the Cat: A Modern Sophisma	Paper - By Subtopic	Philosophical Studies 84:63-74, 1996	No
Doyle (Robert O.)	Tibbles, the Cat	Paper - By Subtopic	Personal Website	No
Johansson (Ingvar)	Identity Puzzles and Supervenient Identities	Paper - By Subtopic	Metaphysica 7.1 (2006), pp. 7-34	No
Kingma (Elselijn)	Were You Part of Your Mother?	Paper - Referencing	Mind, Volume 128, Issue 511, July 2019, Pages 609–646	Yes
Lovibond (Sabina) & Williams (S.G.)	Identity, Truth & Value: Essays for David Wiggins	Book - Referencing (via Paper Referencing)	Bibliographical details to be supplied	10%
Lowe (E.J.)	A Survey of Metaphysics	Book - By Subtopic (via Paper By Subtopic)	Lowe (E.J.) - A Survey of Metaphysics	No
Lowe (E.J.)	Substantial Change and Spatiotemporal Coincidence	Paper - By Subtopic	Lowe - A Survey of Metaphysics, Chapter 4	No
Lowe (E.J.)	The Paradox of the 1,001 Cats	Paper - By Subtopic	Analysis, Vol. 42, No. 1 (Jan., 1982), pp. 27-30	No
Marshall (Richard)	Philosophy at 3:AM: Questions and Answers with 25 Top Philosophers	Book - By Subtopic (via Paper By Subtopic)	Marshall (Richard) - Philosophy at 3:AM: Questions and Answers with 25 Top Philosophers	37%
Marshall (Richard) & Olson (Eric)	Eric T. Olson: The Philosopher with No Hands	Paper - By Subtopic	Marshall (Richard) - Philosophy at 3:AM: Questions and Answers with 25 Top Philosophers	Yes
McGrath (Matthew)	Four-Dimensionalism and the Puzzles of Coincidence	Paper - By Subtopic	Zimmerman (Dean), Ed. - Oxford Studies in Metaphysics: Volume 3	No
Noonan (Harold)	Absolute and Relative Identity	Paper - Referencing	Lovibond & Williams - Identity, Truth & Value: Essays for David Wiggins	17%
Noonan (Harold)	Objects and Identity: An Examination of Relative Identity and its Consequences	Book - Cited (via Paper Cited)	Bibliographical details to be supplied	10%
Noonan (Harold)	Quine on Synchronic Identity	Paper - Cited	Noonan - Objects and Identity, 1980, Chapter 4	Yes
Noonan (Harold)	Relative Identity: A Reconsideration	Paper - By Subtopic	Analysis, Vol. 46, No. 1 (Jan., 1986), pp. 6-10	No
Noonan (Harold)	Review of 'Kinds of Being: A Study of Individuation, Identity and the Logic of Sortal Terms' by E. J. Lowe	Paper - Cited	Philosophy, Vol. 66, No. 256 (Apr., 1991), pp. 248-249	Yes
Noonan (Harold)	Tibbles the Cat - A Reply to Burke	Paper - By Subtopic	Philosophical Studies 95:215-218, 1999	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? Animals	Paper - Referencing	What Are We? A Study in Personal Ontology, Chapter 2 (November 2007: Oxford University Press.)	Yes
Parsons (Josh)	Dion, Theon, and DAUP	Paper - Cited	Pacific Philosophical Quarterly, 85 (2004)	Yes
Parsons (Josh)	Dion, Theon, and DAUP	Paper - Referencing	Pacific Philosophical Quarterly, 85 (2004)	Yes
Rea (Michael), Ed.	Material Constitution - A Reader	Book - Cited	Rea (Michael), Ed. - Material Constitution - A Reader	41%
Sedley (David)	The Stoic criterion of identity	Paper - By Subtopic	Phronesis, 27 (1982), 255–75	11%
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Tibbles the Cat	Paper - By Subtopic		Yes
Wiggins (David)	On Being in the Same Place at the Same Time	Paper - Referencing	Rea - Material Constitution - A Reader	Yes
Zimmerman (Dean), Ed.	Oxford Studies in Metaphysics: Volume 3	Book - By Subtopic (via Paper By Subtopic)	Zimmerman (Dean), Ed. - Oxford Studies in Metaphysics: Volume 3	10%

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Text Colour Conventions

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

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