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Personal Identity

Thesis - Chapter 02 (What are We?)

(Text as at 24/04/2018 00:12:58)

*** THIS IS NOT THE LATEST VERSION OF THIS NOTE ***


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Abstract

  1. The topic “personal identity” has historically presupposed that we are (in the sense of “identical to”, or “most fundamentally”) persons, whereas I (along with other animalists) claim that we are identical to human animals.
  2. “We” requires explanation. This chapter attempts to sort out the topic of discussion for the Thesis as a whole.
  3. I need to address the concept of a SOUL as souls are the major counter-claim to the persisting entity being an animal; or at least popularly so. The same goes for SELVES, and also for HUMAN BEINGS, insofar as these are supposed to be distinct from HUMAN ANIMALs.
  4. I also need to have some discussion of what is meant by the various other possibilities of what we are1, but leave explications of PERSONs, BODIES and ANIMALs / ORGANISMs until later Chapters.
  5. I’m not quite sure where the possibility that we are BRAINs ought to go, but for the time being it’s here; and this leads on to the possibility (tacitly assumed in some TEs) that we might be individual CEREBRA.


Research Methodology

Chapter Introduction
  1. This Chapter has the title “What Are We4?”. The “We” is of some significance, as we will see in the course of this Thesis when we consider the social and reciprocal aspects of what it is to be a person. Nonetheless, should we not start with the singular, maybe even solipsist, question “What Am I5?”, and expand out from there into the collective question? How we phrase our initial question has an impact on the course of our investigations, and may reflect our deepest presuppositions. The first-person question adopts the Cartesian stance of looking from the inside out, whereas the third-person question considers “us” collectively. The first-person question may presuppose that the answer to the question is that I am primarily a psychological being, whereas the third-person question may assume or expect the answer that I am fundamentally physical.
  2. Some of the potential answers to the question will be the same whether we phrase the question in the singular or the plural.
  3. Taking it in the plural for now, we need to distinguish, as candidates for what we might be on the physical side, (prefixing “human-” passim):-
    • Animals,
    • Organisms,
    • Bodies,
    • Beings, and
    • Brains.
  4. On the psychological side, I might be a self or, more popularly, a person. I might even be a non-essentially-embodied entity like a soul.
  5. I will consider all these options in due course; with the exception of a detailed discussion of the concept PERSON (which is reserved for the next Chapter6), I will do so later in this chapter.
  6. Olson7 also considers whether we might be Humean bundles of mental states and events, and even the nihilist view that we don’t exist at all. I’m not sure I’ll have space for these, but need to remain aware of the possibilities and motivations for these positions.
  7. However, for the moment I want to consider some themes connecting the possible answers to our question. Firstly, does there have to be a single answer? I know that I, and presume that my readers also, fall happily under the concepts HUMAN ANIMAL, HUMAN ORGANISM and HUMAN BEING. I at least have a human body and a human brain, though I would initially feel reluctant to say that I am one of either of these things. I would certainly claim to be a SELF, and also a PERSON, as no doubt would my reader. So, cannot all these answers be correct?
  8. This raises the question of what I mean by saying what I am (or we are) something. In saying that I am any of these things, what sort of relation is the “am”? Am I using am in the sense of an identity relation, a constitution relation, ascribing a predicate, or have some other sense in mind?
  9. There are two kinds of questions I want to ask. Firstly, what sort of being am I identical to? Secondly, what sort of properties do I have; both metaphysically essential properties (those without which I would cease to exist), and those I merely consider essential (that is, “very important”, though I would continue to exist without them)?
  10. Any “is” that does duty for the identity relation inherits the formal properties of an equivalence relation; in particular, it is a transitive relation. Additionally, the “two” identical entities either side of the copula must satisfy Leibniz’s law; “they” share (at a time) all their properties; actual and modal, intrinsic and relational. So, if I am identical to a human animal, and also identical to a human person, then that human animal must be identical to that human person. This would mean that these “two” entities are really one. They co-exist at all times in all possible worlds where either of “them” exists, and share all their properties and relations, at any time and world. Everything that happens to “one” at a world and time happens to the “other” at those coordinates. This places strong logical constraints on how much cake I can have and eat. I may want to say that I am identical both to a human animal, and to a human person, yet claim that a human person has certain mental properties essentially, but deny that a human animal does. However, I am then claiming what is logically impossible, at least for the classical logic of identity that denies that such notions as relative identity are coherent. As we will see, this point is essential to the animalist case that we are not identical to human persons (given the claim that we are identical to human animals).
  11. My thesis addresses the topic of personal identity, but we might claim that what we’re really interested in is in our identity. Not that we have doubts as individuals as to which particular individual we are (as though I, as Bill Clinton, don’t know whether I am Bill Clinton or George W. Bush), but what sort of individual we are, together with worries about our persistence (how long we are going to last, and in what form). Historically, it has been a standard presupposition that what we are8 most fundamentally is persons, or at least that’s all we care about. So, concern about our identity has been elided with concern for personal identity, almost as though we thought that the two questions are the same. Animalists argue that the two questions are indeed different, but for convenience, and the historical continuity of the general topic under discussion, still say they are talking about personal identity.


Main Text
  1. To be supplied.


Links to Books / Papers to be Addressed9
  1. For this Chapter I have already worked on the various papers or book chapters under supervisory control. Where this is the case, for ease of reference, the analytical Note for each reference is hyperlinked directly.
  2. Additionally, I may need to consider other papers or book chapters in the following lists (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. Some that I have considered have been culled or reserved for later.
  3. The General Question:-
  4. Brains / Cerebra
  5. Neurological Background
  6. Human Beings
  7. Selves36
  8. Souls38
  9. Nihilism
  10. Many aspects of these papers will need to be left for later chapters.


The Cut
  1. 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).
  2. 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.
  3. The General Question
  4. Brains / Cerebra
  5. Human Beings
  6. Selves
  7. Souls


Links to Notes
  1. For an out-of-date skeleton giving a fuller reading list, follow this link41.
  2. Candidates for what we are42, considered in this Chapter:-
  3. Candidates for what we are48, considered in later Chapters:-


Final Remarks
  1. This is work in progress54.


In-Page Footnotes

Footnote 7: In "Olson (Eric) - What are We? A Study of Personal Ontology"

Footnote 9: Footnote 16: The excerpt from Brandom raises some questions about the community we call “we”.

Footnote 19: Baker often expresses indebtedness to Roderick Chisholm, who is reviewed on that account.

Footnote 21: An annoying book, but one I ought to study.

Footnote 25: The book. From my perspective, probably the most important source for this Chapter.

Footnote 26: See also the Chapters on Brains and Souls in the subsequent reading-lists.

Footnote 30: Useful historical background, maybe!

Footnote 32: Lockwood might deny that this is his view, but he seems committed to it, as far as I can see.

Footnote 33: This maybe ought to be categorised as an “anti-soul” view.

Footnote 34: Some of the papers by Puccetti will be reconsidered in (or maybe reserved for – a couple already have been) Chapter 10.

Footnote 36: Footnote 37: Alexander thinks that we are Selves, and that Selves are tropes – abstract particulars – which by my lights is about as far from the truth as you can get, so I need to consider his arguments carefully.

Footnote 38: Footnote 39: This looks interesting, but is somewhat off-topic for a priority reading-list.

Footnote 40: This is rather elementary, and ought to have been reviewed in Chapter 01.

Live Version of this Archived Note

Date Length Title
14/04/2026 04:22:05 151062 Thesis - Chapter 02 (What are We?)

Table of the 10 Earlier Versions of this Note

Date Length Title
05/04/2016 23:19:41 14694 Thesis - Chapter 02 (What are We?)
04/04/2015 00:17:17 14560 Thesis - Chapter 02 (What are We?)
13/01/2015 19:07:41 14517 Thesis - Chapter 02 (What are We?)
06/11/2014 10:13:26 14248 Thesis - Chapter 02 (What are We?)
02/10/2014 17:12:29 13468 Thesis - Chapter 02 (What are We?)
22/07/2014 22:23:31 8719 Thesis - Chapter 02 (What are We?)
05/07/2014 13:48:00 8052 Thesis - Chapter 02 (What are We?)
18/12/2010 19:58:05 7347 What are We? (Essay)
12/02/2009 21:30:14 7518 What are We? (Essay)
15/02/2008 20:36:58 7377 What are We? (Essay)

Table of the 11 Later Versions of this Note

Date Length Title
14/02/2026 00:41:46 151034 Thesis - Chapter 02 (What are We?)
06/07/2023 00:43:12 140188 Thesis - Chapter 02 (What are We?)
28/09/2022 10:24:58 138964 Thesis - Chapter 02 (What are We?)
11/05/2022 18:59:02 138652 Thesis - Chapter 02 (What are We?)
01/05/2022 18:20:10 126259 Thesis - Chapter 02 (What are We?)
11/04/2022 00:01:26 109196 Thesis - Chapter 02 (What are We?)
01/10/2021 13:17:46 68548 Thesis - Chapter 02 (What are We?)
29/03/2021 19:23:31 35329 Thesis - Chapter 02 (What are We?)
22/03/2021 00:28:48 20906 Thesis - Chapter 02 (What are We?)
07/02/2021 21:38:53 15250 Thesis - Chapter 02 (What are We?)
18/04/2019 18:18:43 15194 Thesis - Chapter 02 (What are We?)


This version updated Reading List for this Topic Parent Topic
24/04/2018 00:12:58 None available Thesis - Chapter 00 (Preface)


Summary of Notes Links from this Page

Animals Awaiting Attention (Personal Identity) Baillie - What Am I? Baker - What Am I? Body
Brain Brandom - Toward a Normative Pragmatics (Introduction) Cerebrum Chisholm - Which Physical Thing Am I? DeGrazia - Are We Essentially Persons?
Human Beings Jen_080204 (Brandom, Chisholm, Baillie) (3) Jen_080218 (Olson) Jen_080303 (Olson, Baillie) Jen_080317 (Baker)
Johnston - Human Beings Nihilism Olson - What Are We? Olson - What Are We? The Question Olson - What Are We? What Now?
Organisms Parfit - What We Believe Ourselves To Be Person Self Souls
Status: Thesis Dashboard (2018: March) Swinburne - Personal Identity: The Dualist Theory Thesis - Chapter 03 (What is a Person?) Thesis - Method & Form What are We? (7)

To access information, click on one of the links in the table above (if any).



Summary of Note Links to this Page

Disembodied Existence Origins Self Status: Personal Identity (2018 - December) Status: Personal Identity (2018 - June)
Status: Personal Identity (2018 - September) Status: Personal Identity (2019 - March) Status: Priority Task List (2018: December) Status: Priority Task List (2019: March) Status: Summary (2018 - December)
Status: Summary (2018 - June) Status: Summary (2018 - September) Status: Summary (2019 - March) Thesis - Chapter 01 (Introduction), 2 Thesis - Outline
What are We?        

To access information, click on one of the links in the table above (if any).



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