Theo Todman's Web Page - Notes Pages
Status Reports
Status: Personal Identity (2021 - March)
(Text as at 03/04/2021 19:58:05)
*** 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)
Rationale for this Project
- I am researching the subject of Personal Identity primarily because of its intrinsic interest and importance. It is really a sub-topic in my Philosophy of Religion1 project, with its penultimate chapter considering the metaphysical possibility of resurrection.
- While I’m interested in the topic of my research in its own right, I think when I’ve sorted it out a bit, and have something to say, I’ll want to engage with other philosophers active in this field – and re-starting a PhD at Birkbeck or elsewhere might be the only effective way to do this.
- While a PhD is not an end in itself, and certainly not the ultimate aim of my doing philosophy, it’s still true that a PhD would teach me research techniques, provide focus and direction, and furnish a professional qualification should I want to publish any results in this or any other area of philosophy.
- The best place to get an overview of my current views is here2.
- The jumping-off point for my thesis is here3, and a progress dashboard is here4. Both have been recently revised.
Summary of Progress during January - March 2021
- I spent 335 hours in 21Q1 on this Project, or related work (674.5 hours YTD, where for "YTD" - Year to Date - I mean the (academic) year that commenced in October 2020). That's 111.2% of the planned effort (109.8% YTD). Overall, 50.6% of my Project effort in the Quarter was directed towards this project (making 50.3% YTD) - as against 44.4% planned (43.6% YTD).
- I worked hard and comfortably exceeded my quarterly time budget.
- The main success of the quarter was to allocate all the PID Notes I’ve written to at least one Thesis Chapter, and to integrate their reading lists with those in my Thesis. This will allow me to push on with the text of my Thesis without having to maintain two sets of reading lists.
- I also ensured that all my books related to my Thesis, and all the papers on the topic that I’ve read, are allocated to at least one PID Note.
- To control all this, I’ve created a PID Note Usage5 Page.
- A pleasing diversion was an email from Keith Augustine with remarks on my review of "Hershenov (David) - Review of Nancey Murphy's 'Bodies and Souls, or Spirited Bodies?'". A bit of a side-topic I’m yet to fully follow up, but also a useful lead to "Olson (Eric) - The Central Dogma Of Transhumanism".
- I’ve got yet further behind on reading Aeon, but at the expense of “real work” on my Thesis.
- Progress between reports can be obtained from the relevant section of my Summary Task List6.
- A full list of items worked on in the quarter appears below.
Thesis (Total Hours = 202.25)
- Thesis - Reading / Writing (Total Hours = 200.75)
- Aeon: Freamon - Gulf slave society (Comments; Read / Write, 1.25 hours)
- Aeon: Frevert - The history of humiliation points to the future of human dignity (Comments; Read / Write, 0.75 hours)
- Aeon: Levy - Final thoughts (Comments; Read / Write, 1 hour)
- Aeon: Limburg - Am I disabled? (Comments; Write, 2.75 hours)
- Aeon: Sykes - Sheanderthal (Comments; Read / Write, 1.25 hours)
- Aeon: Tasioulas - All in one (Comments; Read / Write, 2.25 hours)
- Aeon: Video - A brief history of melancholy (Comments; Read, 0.25 hours)
- Aeon: Video - Nyctophobia (Comments; Read / Write, 1 hour)
- Aeon: Video - Quantum fluctuations (Comments; Read / Write, 0.5 hours)
- Aeon: Video - Territory (Comments; Read, 0.25 hours)
- Aeon: Video - The wolf dividing Norway (Comments; Read / Write, 1.25 hours)
- Aeon: Video - Who decides how long a second is? (Comments; Read, 0.25 hours)
- Aeon: Wright - How to be a genius (Comments; Read / Write, 1.25 hours)
→ See "Hains (Brigid) & Hains (Paul) - Aeon: 2019+" (14 hours)
- "Bilgrami (Akeel) - What Kind of Creatures Are We? Foreword" (Read, 1.25 hours)
- "Block (Ned) - What is Philosophy of Psychology?" (Write, 0.5 hours)
- "Boden (Margaret) - Artificial Intelligence and Natural Man" (Write, 1.25 hours)
- "Boden (Margaret) - Artificial Intelligence in Psychology: Introduction" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Bordini (Davide) & Torrengo (Giuliano) - Frightening Times" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Broad (C.D.) - The Mind and its Place in Nature" (Write, 1.25 hours)
- "Chomsky (Noam) - What Kind of Creatures Are We?" (Write, 1.25 hours)
- "Copeland (B. Jack) - Artificial Intelligence: A Philosophical Introduction" (Write, 0.75 hours)
- Correspondence: Keith Augustine re "Hershenov (David) - Review of Nancey Murphy's 'Bodies and Souls, or Spirited Bodies?'", etc. (Write, 3.75 hours)
→ See "Hershenov (David) - Review of Nancey Murphy's 'Bodies and Souls, or Spirited Bodies?'" (3.75 hours)
- "Dawkins (Marian Stamp) - Through our Eyes Only? The Search for Animal Consciousness: Preface" (Write, 0.5 hours)
- "Deakin (Michael A.B.) - On Urbach's Analysis of the 'IQ Debate'" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Doepke (Frederick) - The Constitution Relation" (Write, 0.5 hours)
- "Edwards (Paul) - Reincarnation: A Critical Examination - Introduction" (Write, 0.5 hours)
- "Fancher (Raymond) - The Intelligence Men - Makers of the IQ Controversy" (Write, 1 hour)
- "Finley (Moses I.), Shaw (Brent D.), Ed. - Ancient Slavery and Modern Ideology" (Read / Write, 2.25 hours)
- "Flynn (James R.) - What is Intelligence? Beyond the Flynn Effect" (Write, 0.5 hours)
- "Godfrey-Smith (Peter) - Philosophers and other animals" (Read / Write, 2.25 hours)
- "Goleman (Daniel) - Emotional Intelligence: Why it Can Matter More than IQ" (Write, 1 hour)
- "Guttenplan (Samuel) - Mind's Landscape - An Introduction to the Philosophy of Mind" (Write, 0.5 hours)
- "Haugeland (John) - Artificial Intelligence - The Very Idea: Introduction" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Hayworth (Kenneth) - Vitrifying the Connectomic Self" (Write, 0.5 hours)
- "Hunt (Peter) - Ancient Greek and Roman Slavery" (Read / Write, 12.5 hours)
- "Jaekl (Philip) - Am I my connectome?" (Read, 1.5 hours)
- "Jubak (Jim) - In the Image of the Brain - Breaking the Barrier Between the Human Mind and Intelligent Machines" (Write, 0.5 hours)
- "Korsgaard (Christine) - A Kantian Case for Our Obligations to the Other Animals" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Korsgaard (Christine) - Animal Selves and the Good" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Korsgaard (Christine) - Are People More Important than the Other Animals?" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Korsgaard (Christine) - Fellow Creatures: Preface" (Read, 0.25 hours)
- "Korsgaard (Christine) - Kant against the Animals, Part 1: The Indirect Duty View" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Korsgaard (Christine) - Kant against the Animals, Part 2: Reciprocity and the Grounds of Obligation" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Korsgaard (Christine) - Kant, Marginal Cases, and Moral Standing" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Korsgaard (Christine) - Species, Communities, and Habitat Loss" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Korsgaard (Christine) - The Animal Antinomy, Part 1: Creation Ethics" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Korsgaard (Christine) - The Animal Antinomy, Part 2: Abolition and Apartheid" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Korsgaard (Christine) - The Case against Human Superiority" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Korsgaard (Christine) - The Role of Pleasure and Pain" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Lakatos (Imre) - Science and Pseudoscience" (Write, 0.5 hours)
- "Lewis (David X.) - You Can Teach Your Child Intelligence" (Write, 1 hour)
- "Mackintosh (N.J.) - IQ and Human Intelligence" (Write, 1 hour)
- "Mariani (Cristian) & Torrengo (Giuliano) - The Indeterminate Present and the Open Future" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Martin (Paul) - Counting Sheep: The Science and Pleasures of Sleep and Dreams" (Write, 1.5 hours)
- "Mery (Fernand) - Animal Languages" (Write, 0.5 hours)
- "Milner (Richard) - The Encyclopaedia of Evolution: Humanity's Search for Its Origins" (Write, 0.5 hours)
- "Moor (James H.), Ed. - The Turing Test: The Elusive Standard of Artificial Intelligence" (Write, 0.75 hours)
- "Morris (Desmond) - Animalwatching: A Field Guide to Animal Behaviour" (Write, 0.5 hours)
- "Olson (Eric) - Ben's Body Reads the Guardian" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Olson (Eric) - Parfit’s Metaphysics and What Matters in Survival" (Write, 0.5 hours)
- "Olson (Eric) - Swinburne’s Brain Transplants" (Write, 0.5 hours)
- "Olson (Eric) - The Central Dogma Of Transhumanism" (Write, 0.75 hours)
- "Olson (Eric) & Witt (Karsten) - Narrative and persistence" (Write, 0.5 hours)
- "Pietroski (Paul) - Causing Actions - Preface/Introduction" (Write, 0.5 hours)
- "Pink (Thomas) - The Psychology of Freedom: Introduction" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Ross (Don) & Spurrett (David) - What to say to a skeptical metaphysician: A defense manual for cognitive and behavioral scientists" (Write, 0.75 hours)
- "Seung (Sebastian) - Connectome: How the Brain's Wiring Makes Us Who We Are" (Write, 1.5 hours)
- "Goodman (Rob) & Soni (Jimmy) - 11 Life Lessons From History’s Most Underrated Genius" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Stenning (Anna) - Understanding empathy through a study of autistic life writing" (Write, 1.5 hours)
- "Stich (Stephen) - From Folk Psychology to Cognitive Science - The Case Against Belief" (Write, 0.5 hours)
- "Strickberger (Monroe W.) - Evolution" (Write, 0.5 hours)
- "Tizard (Jack) - Progress and Degeneration in the 'IQ Debate': Comments on Urbach" (Write, 0.5 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Abortion" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Androids" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Animal Rights" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Animalism" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Animalism - Objections" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Animalists" (Write, 0.75 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Animals" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Animation" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Artifacts" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Baker" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Biological Criterion" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Biological View" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Bodily Continuity" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Body" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Body Criterion" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Brain" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Brain Criterion" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Brain Death" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Brain State Transfer" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Brain Transplants" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Brains in Vats" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Buddhism" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Cartesian Ego" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Causality" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Cerebrum" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Change" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Chapter 01 (Introduction)" (Write, 6.75 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Chapter 02 (What Are We?)" (Write, 8.5 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Chapter 03 (What is a Person?)" (Write, 4.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Chapter 04 (Basic Metaphysical Issues)" (Write, 5.75 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Chapter 05 (Persistence and Time)" (Write, 4.75 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Chapter 06 (Animalism and Arguments for It)" (Write, 4 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Chapter 07 (The Constitution View and Arguments for It)" (Write, 4.75 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Chapter 08 (Arguments against Animalism)" (Write, 2.75 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Chapter 09 (Arguments against the Constitution View)" (Write, 2.75 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Chapter 10 (Thought Experiments)" (Write, 9.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Chapter 11 (Resurrection)" (Write, 5 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Chapter 12 (Conclusion)" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Chimera" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Christian Materialism" (Write, 2.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Clinical Observations" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Clones" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Closest Continuer" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Coincidence" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Commissurotomy" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Computers" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Concepts" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Connectedness vs Continuity" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Consciousness" (Write, 0.5 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Constitution" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Constitution View" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Constitution View - Objections" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Contingent Identity" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Continuity" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Convention" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Corpses" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Counting Persons" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Criteria of Identity" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Cyborgs" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Death" (Write, 1 hour)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Degrees of Personhood" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Descartes - Real Distinction" (Write, 0.5 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Dicephalus" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Dion and Theon" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Disembodied Existence" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Dualism" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Embryo" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Endurantism" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Essentialism" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Exdurantism" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Existence" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Explanation" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Fetuses" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Fiction" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - First-Person Perspective" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Fission" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Forensic Property" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Free Will" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Functionalism" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Fusion" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Future Great Pain Test" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - General Surveys" (Write, 0.75 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Holes & Smiles" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Homo Sapiens" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Human Animals" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Human Beings" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Human Persons" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Hume" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Hybrid Theories" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Hylomorphism" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - I" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Immortality" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Indeterminate Identity" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Individual" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Information" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Intelligence" (Write, 12.5 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Intermittent Objects" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Interregnum" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Preface" (Write, 3 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Intuition" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Ivan Ilych" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Kant" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Kinds" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Language of Thought" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Leibniz" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Lewis" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Life" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Life After Death" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Locke" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Logic of Identity" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Makropulos Case" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Matter" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Memory" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Mereology" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Metamorphosis" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Metaphysics" (Write, 2.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Methuselah" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Mind" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Modality" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Multiple Personality Disorder" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Narrative Identity" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Natural Kinds" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Naturalism" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Near Death Experiences" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Nihilism" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Non-Human Persons" (Write, 0.5 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Numerical Idenity" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Occasional Identity" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Olson" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Only 'X' and 'Y' Principle" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Ontology" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Organisms" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Origins" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Out of Body Experiences" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Parfit" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Partial Identity" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Perdurantism" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Persistence" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Persistence Criteria" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Persistent Vegetative State" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Personality" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Personite" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Phase Sortals" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Physical Continuity" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Pregnancy" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Probability" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Problem of the Many" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Process Metaphysics" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Properties" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Psychological Continuity" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Psychological Continuity - Forward" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Psychological Criterion" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Psychology" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Psychopathology" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Quasi-Memory" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Reductionism" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Reduplication Objections" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Reincarnation" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Relative Identity" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Replication" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Resurrection" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Scattered Objects" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Self" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Self-Consciousness" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Ship of Theseus" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Siliconisation" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Similarity" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Simple View" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Sleep" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Sorites" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Sortals" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Statue and the Clay" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Substance" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Supervenience" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Survival" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Taking Persons Seriously" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Teletransportation" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Temporary Intrinsics" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Thinking Animal Argument" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Thisness (Haecceity)" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Thought Experiments" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Tibbles the Cat" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Time" (Write, 0.5 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Time Travel" (Write, 0.5 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Transhumanism" (Write, 0.75 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Transplants" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Twinning" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Unity of the Person" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Universals" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Uploading" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Vague Identity" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Vagueness" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Wantons" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - What Are We?" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - What Matters" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Wiggins" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Wittgenstein" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Zombies" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Todman (Theo) - Thesis - Zygote" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Urbach (Peter) - Progress and Degeneration in the 'IQ Debate' (I)" (Write, 0.75 hours)
- "Urbach (Peter) - Progress and Degeneration in the 'IQ Debate' (II)" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Warwick (Kevin) - In the Mind of the Machine - The Breakthrough in Artificial Intelligence" (Write, 1.5 hours)
- "Wiseman (Stephen), Ed. - Intelligence and Ability: Selected Readings" (Write, 1 hour)
- "Wolpert (Lewis) - Six Impossible Things Before Breakfast: Introduction" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Wright (Craig) - The Hidden Habits of Genius: Beyond Talent, IQ, and Grit - Unlocking the Secrets of Greatness" (Write, 1.75 hours)
- Thesis - Research Repositioning (Total Hours = 1.5)
Thesis Background (Total Hours = 112.5)
- Thesis Background - Reading / Writing (Total Hours = 95.5)
- Aeon: Ariel - Talking out loud to yourself is a technology for thinking (Comments; Read, 0.25 hours)
- Aeon: Romeo & Tewksbury - Plato in Sicily (Comments; Read / Write, 1.75 hours)
- Aeon: Video - A small antelope horn (Comments; Write, 1.25 hours)
- Aeon: Video - How Big Tech betrayed us (Comments; Write, 2.25 hours)
- Aeon: Video - The evolution of cynicism (Comments; Read / Write, 1 hour)
- Aeon: West - Pause. Reflect. Think (Comments; Read, 1 hour)
→ See "Hains (Brigid) & Hains (Paul) - Aeon: 2019+" (7.5 hours)
- "Ball (Philip) - Beyond Weird: Why Everything You Thought You Knew About Quantum Mechanics is ... Different" (Read, 0.5 hours)
- "Craig (Albert M.) - The Autobiography of Yukichi Fukuzawa: Afterword. Fukuzawa Yukichi: The Philosphical Foundations of Meiji Nationalism" (Read / Write, 2.5 hours)
- "Craig (Albert M.) - The Autobiography of Yukichi Fukuzawa: Appendix I - Chronological Table" (Read, 1 hour)
- "Craig (Albert M.) - The Autobiography of Yukichi Fukuzawa: Foreword" (Read / Write, 1.25 hours)
- "Eaton (Richard M.) - India in the Persianate Age: 1000-1765" (Read / Write, 23.5 hours)
- "Erber (Joan T.) & Szuchman (Lenore T.) - Great Myths of Aging: Living Contexts" (Read, 0.5 hours)
- "Foroohar (Rana) - Don't Be Evil: How Big Tech Betrayed Its Founding Principles - And All of Us" (Write, 1.25 hours)
- "Fry (Plantagenet) - The Dorling Kindersley History of the World" (Write, 1.5 hours)
- "Fukuzawa (Yukichi) - The Autobiography of Yukichi Fukuzawa" (Read / Write, 16.5 hours)
- "Fukuzawa (Yukichi) - The Autobiography of Yukichi Fukuzawa: Appendix II - The Encouragement of Learning: The First Essay, 1872" (Read, 1.25 hours)
- "Glubb (John Bagot) - The Fate of Empires and Search for Survival" (Read / Write, 9.25 hours)
- "Gower Initiative for Modern Money Studies - Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) - White Paper" (Write, 0.75 hours)
- "Grenville (J.A.S.) - The Collins History of the World In the Twentieth Century" (Write, 2.75 hours)
- "Keay (John) - India: A History" (Read, 5 hours)
- "Lee (Daniel) - The SS Officer's Armchair: In Search of a Hidden Life" (Read, 4.5 hours)
- "Marr (Andrew) - A History of Modern Britain" (Write, 0.5 hours)
- "Marr (Andrew) - A History of The World" (Write, 0.75 hours)
- "Marr (Andrew) - Ruling Britannia: The Failure and Future of British Democracy" (Write, 0.5 hours)
- "Paxman (Jeremy) - Friends in High Places: Who Rules Britain" (Read / Write, 4.5 hours)
- "Popper (Karl) - The Open Society and its Enemies Volume 1: Plato" (Write, 1.25 hours)
- "Popper (Karl) - The Open Society and its Enemies Volume 2: Hegel & Marx" (Write, 0.75 hours)
- "Roberts (J.M.) - The Pelican History of the World" (Write, 2.5 hours)
- "Toynbee (Arnold) - A Study of History: Vol. I (Introduction & The Geneses of Civilisations, Part I)" (Write, 0.5 hours)
- "Toynbee (Arnold) - A Study of History: Vol. II (The Geneses of Civilisations, Part II)" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Toynbee (Arnold) - A Study of History: Vol. III (The Growths of Civilisations)" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Toynbee (Arnold) - A Study of History: Vol. IV (The Breakdowns of Civilisations)" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Toynbee (Arnold) - A Study of History: Vol. V (The Disintegration of Civilisations, Part I)" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Toynbee (Arnold) - A Study of History: Vol. VI (The Disintegration of Civilisations, Part II)" (Write, 0.25 hours)
- "Toynbee (Arnold) - Mankind and Mother Earth: A Narrative History of the World" (Write, 0.75 hours)
- "Wikipedia - Modern Monetary Theory" (Write, 1 hour)
- "Wikipedia - Quantitative easing" (Read / Write, 1.75 hours)
- Thesis Background - Books Admin (Total Hours = 14.25)
- "Admin - Catalogue Papers and Books (including Abstract improvements)" (9.5 hours)
- Admin - Catalogue Papers and Books - Cambridge Core - Books (0.25 hours)
- Admin - Catalogue Papers and Books - Cambridge Core - Canadian Journal of Philosopy (0.75 hours)
- Admin - Catalogue Papers and Books - Cambridge Core - Journal of the American Philosophical Association (2.75 hours)
- Admin - Catalogue Papers and Books - Cambridge Core - Philosophy Journal (1 hour)
- Thesis Background - Status
Thesis (Aeon) (Total Hours = 20.25)
- Aeon: Herbert - A window into 18th-century Queer London, tender yet defiant (Comments; Read, 0.25 hours)
- Aeon: Video - Fukuzawa Yukichi in Europe (Comments; Read / Write, 0.75 hours)
- Aeon: Video - Kachalka (Comments; Read, 0.25 hours)
- Aeon: Video - Kidnapper ants (Comments; Read, 0.25 hours)
- Aeon: Video - My name is Anik (Comments; Read / Write, 0.5 hours)
- Aeon: Video - Rooms (Comments; Read, 0.25 hours)
- Aeon: Video - The death of Julius Caesar (Comments; Read, 0.25 hours)
- Aeon: Video - The German who came to tea (Comments; Read, 0.25 hours)
- Aeon: Video - The lost sound (Comments; Read, 0.25 hours)
- Aeon: Video - The Sutton Hoo helmet (Comments; Read, 0.5 hours)
- "Hains (Brigid) & Hains (Paul) - Aeon: 2019+" (Comments; Write, 16.75 hours)
Plans for the Near Future – Top Priority Tasks
- One thing that has occurred to me is that I’ve got into the habit of collecting stuff – masses of it – and loosely engaging with it, but not doing so seriously enough because of a scatter-gun approach. Also, I very seldom write anything of my own without close reference to what others have written. In a sense this is a good thing, but is destructive of creativity.
- So, I intend to spend at least an hour each and every day writing my own stuff. This isn’t really enough, but we’ll see how things go. Sadly, it hasn’t gone anywhere much in the last academic year.
- So, I have set myself a challenge: write a full-length paper on what I consider to be the critical issue in the philosophy of personal identity: the difference between forward and backward psychological continuity7.
- Further, now I’ve got my skeleton Notes into some sort of shape, I should allocate them to the Thesis text and see how this re-shapes my research.
- Otherwise … as before … I have a clear idea of what I want to do over the current academic year8, which is to complete a skeleton thesis9 to my own satisfaction. As such I require rigorous focus on the priority tasks, books and papers. Lower-priority reading is not likely to get a look in, so will be cut.
- First of all, continually review the Note describing my Current Beliefs10 on the topic of Personal Identity, and ensure the associated Notes have some text. Let Sophie have a look at it, and consider submission to Aeon.
- An “ideal” next step (and one previously suggested) is to ensure that everything of relevance that I have actually read is written up and incorporated in my Notes database and only later – and secondly – consider anything that I have not yet read. This would require discipline, in that interesting new stuff is always turning up, and would be an iterative process. Further, given I’m not getting any younger, it could also be wasting time which should be focussed on using the most relevant materials.
- So, if what I’ve read and written on – in the form of particular papers on a particular topic – is most relevant, I’ll “process” that, but otherwise will start anew.
- As far as effort is concerned, I’ve maintained the plan at 24 hours / week11.
- So, the primary tasks for the next quarter will be to complete a full review of my Thesis12 in the light of the Notes I’ve created on Personal Identity, focusing on those directly referenced by my Current Beliefs13.
- Following that, the focus (if you can call it that) will be on the following bumper list14:-
- Continue with my Thesis15; in particular
- Spend at least an hour a day writing something original.
- Fill out those sections that I can write something on without further research.
- Rework the structure so that Level-1 or -2 print produces the thesis with the correct reading-list.
- Continually review the Note describing my Current Beliefs16 on the topic of Personal Identity.
- Regularly review and update of the Notes I’ve created on Personal Identity, focusing on those directly referenced by my Current Beliefs17.
- Make progress on specific Chapters of my Thesis, using the tasks outlined in my Thesis Dashboard18, using the materials below →
- Chapter 119 (Introduction). Focussing on:-
- Locke20
→ "Duncan (Matt) - I Think, Therefore I Persist", Complete Write-up
→ "Maurer (Nicholas) - Too Many Persons, or None At All?", Write-up
→ "Strawson (Galen) - 'The Secrets of All Hearts': Locke on Personal Identity", Read
→ "Strawson (Galen) - 'Where our responsibility lies': Locke on personal identity", Read
- Introductory and General Works
→ "Unger (Peter) - Identity, Consciousness and Value", Re-read and write up comments
→ "Unger (Peter) - Precis of 'Identity, Consciousness and Value'", Re-read ... also other items from the symposium
- Chapter 221 (What Are We?). Focussing on:-
- General:
→ "Chomsky (Noam) - What Kind of Creatures Are We?", Read and write-up
→ "Olson (Eric) - What are We? A Study of Personal Ontology", My core text!
- Brains22: "Mitchell (Kevin J.) - Innate: How the Wiring of Our Brains Shapes Who We Are", Read & review
- Human Beings23: Review the Symposium between:-
→ "Robinson (Denis) - Human Beings, Human Animals, and Mentalistic Survival", Read and Write-up
→ "Johnston (Mark) - 'Human Beings' Revisited: My Body is Not an Animal", Complete Write-up
- Selves24:-
- "Arikha (Noga) - The Interoceptive Turn", Read and Write-up
- "Dainton (Barry) - Self: Philosophy In Transit", Read and Write-up
- "Dainton (Barry) - The Phenomenal Self", Read and Write-up25
- "O'Hear (Anthony), Ed. - Mind, Self and Person", Complete Reading and Write-ups
- Souls26:-
- Follow up on Keith Augustine's comments on my review of "Hershenov (David) - Review of Nancey Murphy's 'Bodies and Souls, or Spirited Bodies?'".
- Chapter 327 (What Is A Person28?).
- General:-
→ "Noller (Jorg) - A Transformative Account of Personal Identity", Read and write-up
→ "Noller (Jorg) - Person", Read and write-up
- Free Will29
→ "Ellis (George F.R.), Etc - From Chaos to Free Will": Complete review & analysis
→ "Gazzaniga (Michael S.) - Who's in Charge? Free Will and the Science of the Brain", Read
→ "Murphy (Nancey), O'Connor (Timothy) & Ellis (George F.R.) - Downward Causation and the Neurobiology of Free Will": Quick review & analysis
→ "Murphy (Nancey) & Brown (Warren) - Did My Neurons Make Me Do It?": Quick review & analysis
→ "Nanay (Bence) - Catching Desires": Complete write-up
- Intelligence30
→ "Goodman (Rob) & Soni (Jimmy) - 11 Life Lessons From History’s Most Underrated Genius", Read
→ "Wright (Craig) - The Hidden Habits of Genius: Beyond Talent, IQ, and Grit - Unlocking the Secrets of Greatness", Read
- Personites31, develop Note, using:-
→ "Olson (Eric) - Ethics and the Generous Ontology", Write-up, then …
→ "Eklund (Matti) - The Existence of Personites", Read and write-up
→ "Johnston (Mark) - The Personite Problem: Should Practical Reason Be Tabled?", Read and write-up
→ "Johnston (Mark) - Personites, Maximality and Ontological Trash", Read and write-up
→ "Kaiserman (Alexander) - Stage Theory and the Personite Problem", Read and write-up
→ "Pautz (Adam) - Johnston’s Puzzle about Personites", Read and write-up.
- Persons32:-
- "Cottingham (John) - Why we are not 'persons'", Complete Write-up
- "Kuhn (Robert Lawrence), Ed. - Video - Closer to Truth: Personal Identity", Watch and write up
- "Kuhn (Robert Lawrence), Ed. - Video - Closer to Truth: Persons and Selves", Watch and write up
- Chapter 433 (Basic Metaphysical Issues). Focus on:-
- General: "Hazlett (Allan) - New Waves in Metaphysics", Read
- Existence34: "Williams (Christopher) - Death and Other Difficulties", Read and write-up
- Logic of Identity35
- Partial Identity36
→ "Baxter (Donald L.M.) - Temporary and Contingent Instantiation as Partial Identity", Read and write-up
→ "Hawley (Katherine) - Almost Identical, Almost Innocent", Read and write-up.
- Artifacts37
→ "Han (Byung-Chul) - The copy is the original", Write-up
→ "Han (Byung-Chul) - Shanzhai: Deconstruction in Chinese", Read and write-up
- "Loose and Popular" vs "Strict and Philosophical" senses of identity
→ "Noonan (Harold) - Identity, Constitution and Microphysical Supervenience", Write-up38
- Parfit39
→ "Colen (J.A.) - In Memoriam Derek Parfit (1942-2017)", Write-up
→ "Funkhouser (Eric) - Notes on Parfit, 'Personal Identity'", Write-up
→ "Korsgaard (Christine) - Personal Identity and the Unity of Agency: A Kantian Response to Parfit", Read and write-up
→ "McDowell (John) - Reductionism and the First Person", Write-up40
→ "Perry (John) - Time, Fission, and Personal Identity", Read and write-up
→ "Parfit (Derek) - Personal Identity", Write-up
→ "Parfit (Derek) - Prudence, morality, and the prisoner's dilemma", Read and write-up, Note41
→ "Parfit (Derek) - Who do you think you are?", Write-up
→ Complete run-through of the Parfit reading-list
- Simple View42
→ "Duncan (Matt) - A Challenge to Anti-Criterialism"
→ "Duncan (Matt) - A Renewed Challenge to Anti-Criterialism"
→ "Duncan (Matt) - Dualists Needn’t Be Anti-Criterialists (Nor Should They Be)"
- Vague Identity43
→ "Broome (John) - Indefiniteness in Identity",
→ "Noonan (Harold) - Vague Identity Yet Again"
- Narrative Identity44 / Race45. Obtain a balanced view46 Focussing On47:-
- Race and Racism48
→ "Boxill (Bernard), Ed. - Race and Racism: Oxford Readings in Philosophy"
→ "Brues (Alice M.) - People and Races"
→ "Curran (Andrew) - Facing America's History Of Racism Requires Facing The Origins Of 'Race' As A Concept"
→ "Glasgow (Joshua) - Another Look at the Reality of Race, By Which I Mean Race-f"
→ "Mac Donald (Heather) - The Diversity Delusion"
→ "Rutherford (Adam) - How to Argue With a Racist: History, Science, Race and Reality"
→ "Saini (Angela) - Superior: The Return of Race Science"
- The British Empire & its 'Crimes': obtain a balanced view49 from the following list:-
→ "Brendon (Piers) - The Decline And Fall Of The British Empire"
→ "Darwin (John) - Unfinished Empire: The Global Expansion of Britain"
→ "Keay (John) - India: A History"
→ "Lawrence (James) - Rise And Fall Of The British Empire"
→ "Tharoor (Shashi) - Inglorious Empire: What the British Did to India"
- Ancient Slavery50
→ "Finley (Moses I.), Shaw (Brent D.), Ed. - Ancient Slavery and Modern Ideology"
→ "Hunt (Peter) - Ancient Greek and Roman Slavery"
- Chapter 551 (Persistence52 and Time53). Focussing on:-
- General
- "Sider (Ted), Hawthorne (John) & Zimmerman (Dean), Eds. - Contemporary Debates in Metaphysics",
- Persistence54
- "Haslanger (Sally) & Kurtz (Roxanne), Eds. - Persistence : Contemporary Readings",
- "Hawley (Katherine) - Persistence and Determination",
- "Wiggins (David) - Continuants: Their Activity, Their Being, and Their Identity", especially
→ "Noonan (Harold) - Review of Wiggins's 'Continuants'", and
→ "Wiggins (David) - Identity, Individuation, and Substance"
- Time55
- "Boccardi (Emiliano), Ed. - Manuscrito vol. 39 no.4: Recent Trends in the Philosophy of Time: An Introduction to Time and Reality - I", and
- "Boccardi (Emiliano), Ed. - Manuscrito vol. 40 no.1: The Passage of Time and its Enemies: An Introduction to Time and Reality - II"
- "Botros (Sophie) - Truth, Time and History: A Philosophical Enquiry", Re-read & Annotate ... also especially
→ "Botros (Sophie) - Truth, Time and History - A Philosophical Inquiry with Dr Sophie Botros", Complete analysis
- "Bourne (Craig) - A Future for Presentism",
- "Buonomano (Dean) - Your Brain Is a Time Machine: The Neuroscience and Physics of Time",
- "Correia (Fabrice) & Rosenkranz (Sven) - Unfreezing the Spotlight: Tense Realism and Temporal Passage",
- "Costa (Damiano), Gilmore (Cody) & Calosi (Claudio) - Relativity and Three Four-Dimensionalisms",
- Natalja Deng: Various papers, starting with
→ "Deng (Natalja) - One Thing After Another: Why the Passage of Time is Not an Illusion",
- Mauro Dorato: Various papers,
→ "Dorato (Mauro) - Presentism / Eternalism and Endurantism / Perdurantism: why the unsubstantiality of the first debate implies that of the second",
→ "Dorato (Mauro) - Presentism and the Experience of Time",
→ "Dorato (Mauro) - The Irrelevance of the Presentist / Eternalist Debate for the Ontology of Minkowski Spacetime".
- "Fischer (Florian) - Philosophy of time: A slightly opinionated introduction",
- "Friebe (Cord) - Eternalism and the Temporal Content of Persistence", and
- "Friebe (Cord) - Metametaphysics: the Ontology of Spacetime and the Presentist/Eternalist Debate".
- "Lebens (Samuel) & Goldschmidt (Tyron) - The Promise of a New Past": Complete and send to Sophie Botros & Michael J. Alter,
- "LePoidevin (Robin) - Travels in Four Dimensions: The Enigmas of Space and Time",
- "LePoidevin (Robin) & MacBeath (Murray), Eds. - The Philosophy of Time: Oxford Readings in Philosophy",
- "Mellor (D.H.) - Review of Michael Tooley: 'Time, Tense, and Causation'", Read & review
- "Miller (Kristie) - Issues in Theoretical Diversity: Persistence, Composition, and Time",
- "Roselli (Andrea) - How Long is Now? A New Perspective on the Specious Present",
- "Rovelli (Carlo) - The Order of Time",
- "Sattig (Thomas) - The Flow of Time in Experience",
- "Savitt (Steven) - Presentism and Eternalism in Perspective",
- "Skow (Bradford) - Objective Becoming",
- "Torrengo (Giuliano) - Time and Simple Existence",
- "Thomas (Emily) - Before, now, and next", Expand review
- "Thomas (Emily) - Does the Future Exist?", Expand review
- "Zimmerman (Dean) - Presentism and the Space-Time Manifold"
- Chapter 656 (Animalism57). Focussing on:-
- Animals58:
- "Chittka (Lars) & Wilson (Catherine) - Bee-brained", Write up
- "Keim (Brandon) - I, cockroach", Write up
- "Rachlin (Howard) - Teleological behaviourism or what it means to imagine a lion", Complete Write-up
- "Ross (Don) - Consciousness, language, and the possibility of non-human personhood: Reflections on elephants", Write up
- "Wilson (Jack) - Biological Individuality - The identity and Persistence of Living Entities", Complete Write-up
- "Woodruff (Michael) - The face of the fish", Write up
- Animalism59
- "Hershenov (David) - Review of David DeGrazia’s Human Identity and Bioethics",
- "Madden (Rory) - Human Persistence",
- "Merricks (Trenton) - Objects and Persons",
- "Olson (Eric) - The Human Animal - Personal Identity Without Psychology", my core text,
- "Shoemaker (Sydney) - Persons, Animals, and Identity",
- "Snowdon (Paul) - Persons, Animals, Ourselves",
- Animal Rights60
- "Godfrey-Smith (Peter) - Philosophers and other animals", Re-ead and write-up
- "Korsgaard (Christine) - Fellow Creatures: Our Obligations to the Other Animals", Read and evaluate carefully
- Hybrid Theory61
- "Kotak (Aakash) - The Hybrid Theory of Personal Identity", Read and evaluate carefully
- Life62
- "Al-Khalili (Jim) & McFadden (Johnjoe) - Life on the Edge: The Coming of Age of Quantum Biology", Expand file-note
- "DiFrisco (James) & Mossio (Matteo) - Diachronic Identity in Complex Life Cycles: An Organizational Perspective",
- "Lachmann (Michael) & Walker (Sara) - Life ≠ alive",
- "Noble (Denis) - The Music of Life: Biology Beyond Genes", Read
- "Noble (Denis) - Dance to the Tune of Life: Biological Relativity", Read
- "Rose (Steven) - Précis of 'Lifelines: Biology, Freedom, Determinism'", Read
- "Schrodinger (Erwin) - What is Life?"
- Phase-sortal Animalism
- "Sauchelli (Andrea) - The animal, the corpse, and the remnant-person", Read and evaluate carefully
- Process Animalism63
- "DiFrisco (James) & Mossio (Matteo) - Diachronic Identity in Complex Life Cycles: An Organizational Perspective", Read
- "Meincke (Anne Sophie) & Dupre (John) - Biological Identity: Why Metaphysicians and Philosophers of Biology Should Talk to One Another", Read
- "Meincke (Anne Sophie) - Human Persons – A Process View", Read
- "Meincke (Anne Sophie) - Persons as Biological Processes: A Bio-Processual Way Out of the Personal Identity Dilemma", Read
- "Meincke (Anne Sophie) - Processual Animalism: Towards a Scientifically Informed Theory of Personal Identity", Read
- "Noller (Jorg) - Beyond Animalism and Constitutionalism: The Person as A Form of Life", Read
- Chapter 764 (The Constitution View65):-
- "Baker (Lynne Rudder) - Persons and Bodies: A Constitution View": My other core text. Start a serious review.
- "Baker (Lynne Rudder), Etc. - E-Symposium on 'Persons & Bodies: A Constitution View'": Write up reviews of papers,
- "Corcoran (Kevin) - Rethinking Human Nature: A Christian Materialist Alternative to the Soul": Read and review,
- "Loose (Jonathan) - Constitution and the Falling Elevator: The Continuing Incompatibility of Materialism and Resurrection Belief": Write a Note
- "Mellor (D.H.) - Micro-composition": Read
- "Van Inwagen (Peter) - Can Mereological Sums Change their Parts": Read
- "Van Inwagen (Peter) - Inside and outside the ontology room": Read
- "Zahavi (Dan) - Subjectivity and Selfhood: Investigating the First-Person Perspective": Write-up.
- Chapter 866 (Arguments against Animalism67):-
- "Bailey (Andrew M.) - The Elimination Argument",
- Brainstem
- "Olson (Eric) - The Role of the Brainstem in Personal Identity",
- "Tzinman (Rina) - Against the Brainstem View of the Persistence of Human Animals"
- Dicephalus & Conjoined Twins68
- "Buchanan (Rachael) - The battle to separate Safa and Marwa"
- "Campbell (Tim) & McMahan (Jeff) - Animalism and the Varieties of Conjoined Twinning"
- "Olson (Eric) - The Metaphysical Implications of Conjoined Twining"
- "Stone (James L.) & Goodrich (James T.) - The craniopagus malformation: classification and implications for surgical separation"
- "Wikipedia - Craniopagus Twins"
- "Ferner (Adam) - Metaphysics and biology: a critique of David Wiggins’ account of personal identity"
- "Olson (Eric) - On Parfit's View That We Are Not Human Beings",
- Pregnancy69
- "Damschen (Gregor), Gomez-Lobo (Alfonso) & Schonecker (Dieter) - Sixteen Days? A Reply to B. Smith and B. Brogaard on the Beginning of Human Individuals",
- Elselijn Kingma. Especially
→ "Finn (Suki) - Bun or bump?",
→ "Kingma (Elselijn) - Lady Parts: The Metaphysics of Pregnancy", and
→ "Kingma (Elselijn) - Were You Part of Your Mother?".
- "Gomez-Lobo (Alfonso) - Sortals and Human Beginnings",
- "Isaac (Sasha) - Is artificial-womb technology a tool for women’s liberation?",
- "Oderberg (David) - The Metaphysical Status of the Embryo: Some Arguments Revisited",
- "Paez (Eze) - Abortion: What We Ought to Believe - An Ontological and Normative Analysis",
- "Smith (Barry) & Brogaard (Berit) - Sixteen Days".
- "Tzinman (Rina) - Memory, Organisms and the Circle of Life".
- Chapter 1070 (Thought Experiments71):-
- "Nielsen (Lasse) - Reconstructing Thought Experiments in Personal Identity", Read & Write-up
- "Searle (John), Etc. - Minds, Brains, and Programs", Annotate
- "Wilson (James) - The trolley problem problem", Write-up
- Investigate Transhumanism72. In particular,
- "Alexander (Denis) - Healing, enhancement and the human future": Read,
- "Awad (Edmond), Etc. - The Moral Machine experiment": Read,
- "Ball (Philip) - Sim ethics": Write up,
- "Bostrom (Nick) - Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies": Read,
- "Bridle (James) - New Dark Age: Technology and the End of the Future": Read,
- "Clark (Andy) & Kuhn (Robert Lawrence) - Aeon: Video - Andy Clark - Virtual immortality": Review write-up73,
- "Contera (Sonia) - Nano Comes to Life": Read,
- "da Cunha (Rui Vieira) - Will I ever Be a Cyborg?": Read,
- "Davies (Sally) - Women’s minds matter" (and papers cited / resisted)
- "Francis (Matthew) - Is this life real?", Write-up
- "Fry (Hannah) - Hello World: How to be Human in the Age of the Machine": Read & review,
- "Foroohar (Rana) - Don't Be Evil: How Big Tech Betrayed Its Founding Principles - And All of Us", Read
- "Graziano (Michael) - Endless fun": Detailed review,
- "Hanson (Robin) - The Age of Em: Work, Love, and Life when Robots Rule the Earth", Read
- "Harari (Yuval Noah) - Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow": Review, especially Chapter 8,
- "Jaekl (Philip) - Am I my connectome?": Write up
- "Kent (Adrian) - Replication Ethics": Read,
- "Liao (S. Matthew) - Twinning, Inorganic Replacement, and the Organism View": Read,
- "Kobie (Nicole) - Quantum Supremacy is here - So what?": Complete write-up,
- "Madary (Michael) & Metzinger (Thomas) - Real Virtuality: A Code of Ethical Conduct": Read,
- "Marshall (Richard) & Metzinger (Thomas) - Thomas Metzinger: All About the Ego Tunnel": Read,
- "Midgley (Mary) - Biotechnology and Monstrosity: Why We Should Pay Attention to the 'Yuk Factor'": Complete,
- "O'Connell (Mark) - To be a Machine": Briefly review,
- "Olson (Eric) - The Central Dogma Of Transhumanism": Detailed review,
- "Otsuka (Michael) - Personal Identity, Substantial Change, and the Significance of Becoming": Read,
- "Schneider (Susan) - Artificial You": Read,
- "Seung (Sebastian) - Connectome: How the Brain's Wiring Makes Us Who We Are": Read & Write-up,
- "Shipley (G.J.) - Review of Andy Clark's 'Natural-Born Cyborgs'": Complete review,
- "Smith (Wilfred Cantwell) - The Promise of Artificial Intelligence": Read,
- "Tegmark (Max) - Life 3.0: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence": Read,
- "Wyatt (John) - Artificial intelligence and simulated relationships": Write-up.
- Chapter 1174 (Resurrection75):-
- Death76
- "Baillie (James) - We all know that we will die, so why do we struggle to believe it?": Complete review
- "Bradley (Ben), Feldman (Fred) & Johansson (Jens) - The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Death": Start a review, especially
→ "Zimmerman (Dean) - Personal Identity and the Survival of Death",
- "Kaufman (Sharon) - Neither person nor cadaver", Review
- "Luper (Steven), Ed. - The Cambridge Companion to Life and Death": Start a review, especially
→ "Olson (Eric) - The Nature of People",
- "Stone (Alison) - Thinking about one’s birth is as uncanny as thinking of death": review
- "Van Inwagen (Peter) - Dualism and Materialism: Athens and Jerusalem?": Read & review
- "Veatch (Robert M.) - Would a Reasonable Person Now Accept the 1968 Harvard Brain Death Report? A Short History of Brain Death": review
- Hell:-
→ "Seymour (Charles) - A Theodicy of Hell", Review the Introduction
- Makropulos Case77
- "Moore (Adrian W.) - Is the quest for immortality worse than death?": Detailed analysis
- "Moore (Adrian W.) - Williams, Nietzsche, and the Meaninglessness of Immortality": Read and review
- Reincarnation78
- "Barua (Ankur) - Revisiting the Rationality of Reincarnation-Talk": Write a file-note.
- "MacIntosh (J.J.) - Reincarnation and Relativized Identity": Read and review
- "Noonan (Harold) - The Possibility of Reincarnation": Read and review
- Resurrection79
- "Badham (Paul) - Christian Beliefs About Life After Death": Read and review
- "Baker (Lynne Rudder) - Death and the Afterlife": Read and review
- "Corcoran (Kevin) - Dualism, Materialism and the Problem of Post Mortem Survival": Read and review
- "Martin (L. Michael) & Augustine (Keith) - The Myth of an Afterlife: The Case against Life After Death": Start a thorough review,
- "Zimmerman (Dean) - The Compatibility of Materialism and Survival: The “Falling Elevator” Model": Read and review
- As background tasks:-
- Ensure all items in:-
→ "Various - Papers on Desktop", and
→ "Various - Papers in Desk Drawer"
are either addressed or re-filed.
- Maintain "Various - Papers & Books Yet To Be Logged", and log papers therein if they become important.
- Convert old PDFs to Notes:-
- Review the two reports:-
→ PDF-précis,
→ PDF-essays80.
- Determine how the first is produced, and why the pdfs aren't highlighted, and compare with Write-ups Notes Jump Table
- Re-read & enhance recent Précis conversions, ie:-
→ "Skyrms (Brian) - The Goodman Paradox and the New Riddle of Induction"
→ "Woolhouse (Roger) - Spinoza and Substance"
- Convert outstanding Essays.
- Complete cataloguing the books downloaded from Springer,
- Continue with "Marshall (Richard) - Philosophy at 3:AM: Questions and Answers with 25 Top Philosophers",
- Complete reading (or make notes on):-
- "Ball (Philip) - Beyond Weird: Why Everything You Thought You Knew About Quantum Mechanics is ... Different" (possibly re-read; add file Note),
- "Barker (Jonathan) - Debunking Arguments and Metaphysical Laws",
- "Borges (Jorge Luis) - Labyrinths: Selected Stories and Other Writings",
- "Bregman (Rutger) - Utopia for Realists: And How We Can Get There",
- "Bregman (Rutger) - Why Garbagemen Should Earn More Than Bankers",
- "Dennett (Daniel) - The Mind's I - Fantasies and Reflections on Self and Soul: Introduction",
- "Erber (Joan T.) & Szuchman (Lenore T.) - Great Myths of Aging",
- "Everett (Daniel) - Did Homo erectus speak?",
- "Fine (Cordelia) - Testosterone Rex: Myths of Sex, Science, and Society",
- "Fukuzawa (Yukichi) - The Autobiography of Yukichi Fukuzawa",
- "Greene (Brian) - The Hidden Reality: Parallel Universes and the Deep Laws of the Cosmos",
- "Hoffman (Donald D.) - The Case Against Reality: How Evolution Hid the Truth from Our Eyes",
→ "Gefter (Amanda) & Hoffman (Donald D.) - The Evolutionary Argument Against Reality"
→ "O'Grady (Jane) - Donald Hoffman’s 'The Case Against Reality' is hard to get your head around"
- "Hofstadter (Douglas) - Godel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid - A Metaphorical Fugue on Minds and Machines in the Spirit of Lewis Carroll",
- "Howson (Colin) & Urbach (Peter) - Scientific Reasoning: The Bayesian Approach",
- "Ord (Toby) - The Precipice: Existential Risk and the Future of Humanity",
- "Rovelli (Carlo) - Reality Is Not What It Seems: The Journey to Quantum Gravity",
- "Shand (John) - Central Issues of Philosophy",
- "Vedral (Vlatko) - Decoding Reality: The Universe as Quantum Information".
- Complete my Note on "Smith (Martin) - Why Throwing 92 Heads in a Row Is Not Surprising" and discuss with Pete & Mike.
- Economics:-
- "Sowell (Thomas) - Basic Economics: A Common Sense Guide to the Economy",
- "Susskind (Daniel) - A World Without Work: Technology, Automation and How We Should Respond",
- "Reiss (Julian) - Philosophy of Economics: A Contemporary Introduction".
- Continue reading and reviewing papers issued by Aeon81,
- Keep up with the Journals via JSTOR & Cambridge Core.
- Update my Journals Note82: Review the journals I have access to; more are available as a Cambridge Alumnus.
- Keep up with the philosophical world by regular reviews of "Interaction - Philos-List", but only seriously pursue items relevant to my research.
Summary of Progress to Date
This was hived off to a separate Note83 back in 2010, and hasn’t changed much since.
In-Page Footnotes
Footnote 8:
- Hopefully, I may complete, or get stuck, earlier.
- I had hoped to complete this phase of my research by my 65th birthday – ie. by 13/11/2018. Previously, I’ve remarked “This is not to slip!” Unfortunately, the distraction of the problems with Coxes Farm – as well as a general lack of focus – have meant that it has!
- On the plus side, I’m already much further advanced than would be expected of someone commencing a PhD.
- On the minus side, I want to go into much greater depth, and have other projects on the go – most notably Music, Philosophy of Religion, Bridge, Chess and – particularly – my Web-tools project.
- The original reason for deferring to my 65th birthday was that this is when I became eligible for my State Pension. This may not be much to live on – but it is a quite generous supplement which would make a significant contribution towards the fees and expenses, which prior thereto I couldn’t afford.
- Unfortunately, my state pension (and Julie’s, for that matter) has been more than gobbled up by payments on the – now four – mortgages I’ve had to take out to cover the repairs to Coxes Farm. We’ll be repaying that until 2031, by which time I’ll be 77.
Footnote 9:
- This used to say “complete a thesis …”, which is obviously impossible, given that my idea of a thesis is way in excess of what is required.
Footnote 11:
- This is still ludicrously inadequate for what I want to achieve, but is approximately what would be expected of a part-time research student.
Footnote 14:
- This is obviously far too long, and keeps getting items “carried forward” tacked on to it.
- Maybe I’ll prune it next time.
Footnotes 25, 40: Footnote 38:
- This paper covers the 'Loose and Popular' vs 'Strict and Philosophical' senses of identity, amongst much else.
Footnote 41: Footnotes 46, 49:
- This list will hopefully diminish over time, as I read the works, so will no longer look balanced.
Footnote 47:
- Neither sub-topic is really part of my research into the metaphysics of personal identity, but it's become such an important topic of late - one on which I'm largely ignorant and need to have a considered opinion.
Footnote 50:
- This is something of a footnote on a footnote,
Footnote 73:
- Also look through other works by Andy Clark to get a handle on what he means by 'patterns in information space'.
Live Version of this Archived Note
Table of 12 Earlier Versions of this Note (of 80)
Table of 12 Later Versions of this Note (of 19)
| This version updated |
Reference for this Topic |
Parent Topic |
| 03/04/2021 19:58:05 |
518 (Status: Personal Identity (2021 - March)) |
Status: Summary (2026 - March) |
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