Theo Todman's Web Page - Notes Pages

Personal Identity

Zombies

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

Plug Note¹

• Thesis Text:
  1. In analytic philosophy, ‘Zombie’ is a term of art for the supposed possibility that individuals might exist with exactly the same
     → physical structure and
     → behaviour
     as human persons, but without phenomenal consciousness – with “no-one at home”, in other words.
  2. It is addressed in "Kripke (Saul) - Naming and Necessity: Lecture III", and is a bug-bear of David Papineau – eg. in the latter part of "Papineau (David) - The Importance of Philosophical Intuition".
  3. The most important claim is the first – that beings of the same physical structure as ourselves might lack consciousness. Accepting it seems to beg the question against materialism². If materialism³ is true, then zombies are impossible – on the assumption that we are conscious₄.
  4. The second claim – that androids (say) might behave like us but lack consciousness is readily believed by all those not in thrall to a strong version of Strong AI and the Turing Test. It is true of ChatGPT.
  5. This doesn’t mean that “zombies” don’t have minds, or that they blunder about as in the horror movies – they would appear completely like us. It’s just that there’s nothing it is like to be a zombie. Or so it is supposed. It may be that this is in fact impossible, though only ‘obviously’ so in the case of human philosophical zombies.
  6. What has all this got to do with Personal Identity? Some immediate thoughts:-
     1. There would seem to be no impact on animalism⁵, which discounts the importance of the mental for our persistence.
     2. The constitution view⁶ might equally be unperturbed. This depends on whether zombies have a FPP⁷. As noted, they have a mind, and presumably intentionality – itself a window on the world. But I suspect there needs to be ‘something it’s like to have’ a FPP⁸.
     3. Consciousness is often said to be something essential to being a person⁹.

• ---

  Further Remarks:
  1. This topic – really a TE¹⁰ – properly belongs to the philosophy of mind¹¹ and consciousness studies¹².

References

• Relevant Works cited above:
  1. "Kripke (Saul) - Naming and Necessity: Lecture III", 1980, Write-Up Note¹³, Read
  2. "Papineau (David) - The Importance of Philosophical Intuition", 2009, Read
• For a Page of Links¹⁴ to this Note, Click here. Unfortunately, there are too many links to process at the moment.
• Works on this topic that I’ve actually read¹⁵, include the following:-
  • General:
    1. "Crane (Tim) - Consciousness", 2001, Write-Up Note¹⁶, Footnote₁₇
    2. "Falk (Dan) - The philosopher’s zombie", 2022, External Link
    3. "Kripke (Saul) - Naming and Necessity: Lecture III", 1980, Write-Up Note¹⁸
    4. "Moody (Todd C.) - Conversations with Zombies", 1994, External Link
    5. "Papineau (David) - The Importance of Philosophical Intuition", 2009
    6. "Tye (Michael) - Can You Really Imagine What You Think You Can?", 1999
• A further reading list might start with:-
  • General:
    1. "Alter (Torin) - Imagining subjective absence: Marcus on zombies", 2007, Internal PDF Link
    2. "Avramides (Anita) - Other Minds", 2001, Book
    3. "Bermudez (Jose Luis) - Review of Robert Kirk's 'Zombies and Consciousness'", 2007, Internal PDF Link, Read = 33%
    4. "Dennett (Daniel) - The Fantasy of First-Person Science", 2001, External Link, Internal PDF Link, Read = 50%
    5. "Dennett (Daniel) - The Unimagined Preposterousness of Zombies: Commentary on Moody, Flanagan, and Polger", 1998, External Link, Internal PDF Link
    6. "Flanagan (Owen) & Polger (Thomas) - Zombies and the Function of Consciousness", 1995, External Link, Internal PDF Link
    7. "Kirk (Robert) - Reply to Don Locke on Zombies and Materialism", 1977, Internal PDF Link
    8. "Kirk (Robert) - Sentience and Behaviour", 1974, Internal PDF Link
    9. "Kirk (Robert) - The Inconceivability of Zombies", 2008, Internal PDF Link, Read = 7%
    10. "Kirk (Robert) - Why There Couldn't Be Zombies", 1999, Internal PDF Link, Read = 7%
    11. "Kirk (Robert) - Zombies", 2003-11, External Link, Internal PDF Link, Read = 4%
    12. "Kirk (Robert) - Zombies versus Materialists (I)", 1974, Internal PDF Link
    13. "Levy (Neil) - Are Zombies Responsible? The Role of Consciousness in Moral Responsibility", Undated, External Link, Internal PDF Link
    14. "Locke (Don) - Zombies, Schizophrenics, and Purely Physical Objects", 1976, Internal PDF Link
    15. "Marshall (Richard) & Tye (Michael) - Michael Tye: Thinking Fish & Zombie Caterpillars", 2012, Internal PDF Link, Read = 22%
    16. "Papineau (David) - The Impossibility of Zombies", 2002, Read = 5%
    17. "Polger (Thomas) - Zombies", 2001?, Read = 27%
    18. "Polger (Thomas) - Zombies Explained", 2000, External Link, Internal PDF Link, Read = 17%
    19. "Squires (J.E.R.) - Zombies versus Materialists (II)", 1974
    20. "Stalnaker (Robert) - What Is It Like To Be a Zombie?", 2003
    21. "Sturgeon (Scott) - Zombies and Ghosts", 2000, Read = 89%
• For further papers held on-line of potential interest, follow this Link¹⁹. Total papers = 1.

  ---

• 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-holder²⁰.

---

In-Page Footnotes:

Footnote 4:

1. This relates the the problem of other minds.
2. See "Avramides (Anita) - Other Minds".

Footnote 17:

• Section 29 (See this Note).

---

Table of the Previous 8 Versions of this Note:

Date	Length	Title
20/09/2022 11:24:00	4156	Zombies
01/05/2022 18:20:10	3661	Zombies
19/02/2021 00:23:02	3426	Zombies
01/10/2020 00:24:29	2788	Zombies
18/07/2018 15:04:19	4908	Zombies
14/01/2017 20:18:14	2939	Zombies
18/12/2010 19:58:05	777	Zombies
27/07/2009 11:36:58	595	Zombies

---

Note last updated	Reading List for this Topic	Parent Topic
06/07/2023 00:43:12	Zombies	None

---

Summary of Notes Referenced by This Note

Animalism	Awaiting Attention (Personal Identity)	Consciousness	Constitution View	Crane - The Conscious and the Unconscious
Crane - Zombies	First-Person Perspective	Kripke - Naming and Necessity - Lecture III	Mind	Note Links Explanation
Person	Physicalism	PID Note, Book & Paper Usage	Plug Note Apologia	Thought Experiments
Works Read - Explanation

To access information, click on one of the links in the table above.

---

Summary of Notes Citing This Note

Androids	Duplication	PID Note, Book & Paper Usage, 2, 3, 4	Siliconisation	Status: Personal Identity (2025 - December)
Status: Priority Task List (2026 - February)	Status: Summary (2025 - December)	Thesis - Chapter 02 (What are We?), 2, 3, 4, 5	Thesis - Chapter 10 (Thought Experiments), 2, 3	Thesis - Personal Identity, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
Website Generator Documentation - Functors, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

To access information, click on one of the links in the table above.

---

Authors, Books & Papers Citing this Note

Author	Title	Medium	Extra Links	Read?
Aeon	Video - Mary's Room	Paper		Yes
Baker (Lynne Rudder)	Technology and the Future of Persons	Paper
BBC, Bragg (Melvyn)	In Our Time - Panpsychism	Paper		Yes
Dennett (Daniel)	The Fantasy of First-Person Science	Paper
Falk (Dan)	The philosopher’s zombie	Paper		Yes
Gotlib (Anna)	Main character syndrome	Paper		Yes
Kind (Amy)	How to think about consciousness	Paper		Yes
Olson (Eric)	The Zombies Among Us	Paper
Papineau (David)	Introducing Consciousness	Paper	2, 3	Yes
Papineau (David)	The Importance of Philosophical Intuition	Paper		Yes
Potter (Harry), Shears (Tara), Carlisle (Clare) & Broks (Paul)	Audio: How Can I Know Anything at All?	Paper		Yes
Snowdon (Paul)	Philosophy and the Mind/Body Problem	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Androids	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Chapter 02 (What Are We?)	Paper	2, 3, 4, 5	Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Chapter 10 (Thought Experiments)	Paper	2, 3	Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Duplication	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Personal Identity	Paper	2, 3, 4, 5, 6	Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Siliconisation	Paper		Yes

---

References & Reading List

Author	Title	Medium	Source	Read?
Aeon	Video - Mary's Room	Paper - Referencing	Aeon, 03 September 2020	Yes
Alter (Torin)	Imagining subjective absence: Marcus on zombies	Paper - Cited	Disputatio, Vol. II, No. 22, May 2007	No
Avramides (Anita)	Other Minds	Book - Cited	Avramides (Anita) - Other Minds	No
Bermudez (Jose Luis)	Review of Robert Kirk's 'Zombies and Consciousness'	Paper - Cited	Philosophical Quarterly (1950-), Vol. 57, No. 227 (Apr., 2007), pp. 306-308	No
Crane (Tim)	Consciousness	Paper - Cited	Crane - Elements of Mind - An Introduction to the Philosophy of Mind, 2001, Chapter 3	Yes
Crane (Tim)	Elements of Mind - An Introduction to the Philosophy of Mind	Book - Cited (via Paper Cited)	Bibliographical details to be supplied	Yes
Dennett (Daniel)	Brainchildren - Essays on Designing Minds	Book - By Subtopic (via Paper By Subtopic)	Dennett (Daniel) - Brainchildren - Essays on Designing Minds	1%
Dennett (Daniel)	The Fantasy of First-Person Science	Paper - Cited	Dennett's Website	50%
Dennett (Daniel)	The Fantasy of First-Person Science	Paper - Referencing	Dennett's Website	50%
Dennett (Daniel)	The Unimagined Preposterousness of Zombies: Commentary on Moody, Flanagan, and Polger	Paper - By Subtopic	Dennett - Brainchildren - Essays on Designing Minds	No
Dennett (Daniel)	The Zombic Hunch: Extinction of an Intuition?	Paper - By Subtopic	Philosophy at the New Millennnium, ed. Anthony O'Hear, Cambridge Univ. Press, 2001, Royal Institute of Philosophy Supplement: 48, pp27-43	7%
Falk (Dan)	The philosopher’s zombie	Paper - Cited	Aeon, 04 February 2022	Yes
Flanagan (Owen) & Polger (Thomas)	Zombies and the Function of Consciousness	Paper - By Subtopic	JCS - Journal of Consciousness Studies, Volume 02, Issue 4 (1995)	No
Funkhouser (Eric)	A Call for Modesty: A Priori Philosophy and the Mind-Body Problem	Paper - By Subtopic	New Waves in Philosophy of Mind, Online Conference, 3rd-17th December 2012	14%
Garrett (Brian)	Causal Essentialism versus the Zombie Worlds	Paper - By Subtopic	Canadian Journal of Philosophy, Vol. 39, No. 1 (March 2009), pp. 93-112	No
Gotlib (Anna)	Main character syndrome	Paper - Referencing	Aeon, 27 September 2024	Yes
Hains (Brigid) & Hains (Paul)	Aeon: Follow-up Boxes	Book - Referencing (via Paper Referencing)	Bibliographical details to be supplied	100%
JCS	Journal of Consciousness Studies, Volume 01, Issue 2 (1994)	Book - Cited (via Paper Cited)	Bibliographical details to be supplied	9%
JCS	Journal of Consciousness Studies, Volume 02, Issue 4 (1995)	Book - By Subtopic (via Paper By Subtopic)	JCS - Journal of Consciousness Studies, Volume 02, Issue 4 (1995)	No
Kind (Amy)	How to think about consciousness	Paper - Referencing	Aeon, 04 September 2024	Yes
Kirk (Robert)	Reply to Don Locke on Zombies and Materialism	Paper - By Subtopic	Mind 86.342, Apr. 1977, pp. 262-4	No
Kirk (Robert)	Sentience and Behaviour	Paper - By Subtopic	Mind 83.329, Jan. 1974, pp. 43-60	No
Kirk (Robert)	The Inconceivability of Zombies	Paper - By Subtopic	Philosophical Studies, Vol. 139, No. 1 (May, 2008), pp. 73-89	7%
Kirk (Robert)	Why There Couldn't Be Zombies	Paper - By Subtopic	Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, Supplementary Volumes, Vol. 73 (1999), pp. 1-16. Inaugural Address.	7%
Kirk (Robert)	Zombies	Paper - By Subtopic	Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy, 2003-11	4%
Kirk (Robert)	Zombies versus Materialists (I)	Paper - By Subtopic	Supplement to the Proceedings of The Aristotelian Society 48, 1974, pp. 135-152	No
Kripke (Saul)	Naming and Necessity	Book - Cited (via Paper Cited)	Bibliographical details to be supplied	Yes
Kripke (Saul)	Naming and Necessity: Lecture III	Paper - Cited	Kripke - Naming and Necessity, 1980, Chapter 3	Yes
Levy (Neil)	Are Zombies Responsible? The Role of Consciousness in Moral Responsibility	Paper - By Subtopic	Website	No
Locke (Don)	Zombies, Schizophrenics, and Purely Physical Objects	Paper - By Subtopic	Mind Vol. 85, No. 337, January 1976, pp. 97-99	No
Marshall (Richard) & Tye (Michael)	Michael Tye: Thinking Fish & Zombie Caterpillars	Paper - By Subtopic	Marshall (Richard) - Philosophy at 3:AM	22%
Moody (Todd C.)	Conversations with Zombies	Paper - Cited	JCS - Journal of Consciousness Studies, Volume 01, Issue 2 (1994)	Yes
Olson (Eric)	The Zombies Among Us	Paper - By Subtopic	Nous, 52(1), March 2018, 216-226	8%
Papineau (David)	Introducing Consciousness	Book - Referencing (via Paper Referencing)	Bibliographical details to be supplied	Yes
Papineau (David)	Introducing Consciousness	Paper - Referencing	Papineau - Introducing Consciousness	Yes
Papineau (David)	The Importance of Philosophical Intuition	Paper - Cited	Backdoor Broadcasting Company; Metaphilosophical Directions for the 21st Century - 11 December 2009	Yes
Papineau (David)	The Importance of Philosophical Intuition	Paper - Referencing	Backdoor Broadcasting Company; Metaphilosophical Directions for the 21st Century - 11 December 2009	Yes
Papineau (David)	The Impossibility of Zombies	Paper - By Subtopic	Papineau - Thinking About Consciousness, Chapter 3	5%
Papineau (David)	Thinking About Consciousness	Book - By Subtopic (via Paper By Subtopic)	Papineau (David) - Thinking About Consciousness	4%
Polger (Thomas)	Zombies	Paper - By Subtopic	Field Guide to the Philosophy of Mind	27%
Polger (Thomas)	Zombies Explained	Paper - By Subtopic	Ross (Don), Brook (Andrew) & Thompson (David) - Dennett's Philosophy, 2000	17%
Potter (Harry), Shears (Tara), Carlisle (Clare) & Broks (Paul)	Audio: How Can I Know Anything at All?	Paper - Referencing	BBC Website, 2015	Yes
Ross (Don), Brook (Andrew) & Thompson (David)	Dennett's Philosophy - A Comprehensive Assessment	Book - By Subtopic (via Paper By Subtopic)	Ross (Don), Brook (Andrew) & Thompson (David) - Dennett's Philosophy - A Comprehensive Assessment	1%
Sprevak (Mark), Etc	New Waves in Philosophy of Mind	Book - By Subtopic (via Paper By Subtopic)	Sprevak (Mark), Etc - New Waves in Philosophy of Mind	15%
Squires (J.E.R.)	Zombies versus Materialists (II)	Paper - By Subtopic	Supplement to the Proceedings of The Aristotelian Society 48, 1974, pp. 153-163	No
Stalnaker (Robert)	Ways a World Might Be: Metaphysical and Anti-Metaphysical Essays	Book - By Subtopic (via Paper By Subtopic)	Stalnaker (Robert) - Ways a World Might Be: Metaphysical and Anti-Metaphysical Essays	1%
Stalnaker (Robert)	What Is It Like To Be a Zombie?	Paper - By Subtopic	Stalnaker - Ways a World Might Be, Chapter 13	No
Sturgeon (Scott)	Matters of Mind	Book - By Subtopic (via Paper By Subtopic)	Sturgeon (Scott) - Matters of Mind	12%
Sturgeon (Scott)	Zombies and Ghosts	Paper - By Subtopic	Sturgeon - Matters of Mind, 2000, Chapter 5	78%
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Zombies	Paper - By Subtopic		Yes
Tye (Michael)	Can You Really Imagine What You Think You Can?	Paper - Cited	Tye - Ten Problems of Consciousness, 1995, Chapter 7	Yes
Tye (Michael)	Ten Problems of Consciousness	Book - Cited (via Paper Cited)	Bibliographical details to be supplied	Yes

---

Text Colour Conventions

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

---

© Theo Todman, June 2007 - March 2026.	Please address any comments on this page to theo@theotodman.com.	File output: 02/03/2026 07:06:15 Website Maintenance Dashboard
Return to Top of this Page	Return to Theo Todman's Philosophy Page	Return to Theo Todman's Home Page

---