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Personal Identity

Soul Criterion

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

Plug Note¹

• Thesis Text:
  1. So, how do souls² help with the problem of personal identity? Depending on what we take souls³ to be, they – if they are indestructible immaterial substances, say – may help with problems associated with post-mortem survival and identification (assuming there is any such thing).
  2. Otherwise, some favourite TEs⁴ are impossible – fission⁵, say, if souls are indivisible. Teletransportation⁶ would presumably be impossible, as a soulless being would be assembled at the other end of the “journey”. Unless the soul is the form of the body, that is.
  3. While Lynne Rudder Baker wasn’t a dualist⁷, the FPP⁸ – individuating Persons⁹, as it does – performs the same role as the Soul.

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  Further Remarks:
  1. I had thought that Souls had been consigned to the dustbin of history, with only die-hards like Richard Swinburne still believing in them, but Eric Olson, while he doesn’t believe in souls, has an entire Chapter of "Olson (Eric) - What are We? A Study of Personal Ontology" taken up with the possibility that this is what we are. So, I presume it must still be a live issue.
  2. There ought to be a division of labour between this Note and its parent Note on Souls¹⁰.
  3. The parent Note ought to discuss what souls are (supposed to be), and what problems the concept encounters, while this one should focus on how souls help with the problem of personal identity.
  4. Some of the ground for this Note is also covered by the note on Dualism¹¹.
  5. I’ve tried to segregate the reading lists between this Note and that on Souls¹². This is often fairly arbitrary, and the books of core readings have been assigned to both Notes.

References

• Relevant Works cited above:
  1. "Olson (Eric) - What are We? A Study of Personal Ontology", 2007, Book, Read
  2. "Olson (Eric) - What Are We? Souls", 2007, Write-Up Note¹³, Internal PDF Link, Read
• For a page of Links¹⁴ to this Note, Click here. Far too many, so I’ve focused on those I happen to have come across during my researches on other topics, and those that have “soul” in the title.
• Works on this topic that I’ve actually read¹⁵, include the following:-
  • General:
    1. "Baker (Lynne Rudder) - Review of 'Bodies and Souls, or Spirited Bodies?' by Nancey Murphy", 2006, Annotations, External Link, Internal PDF Link
    2. "Blatti (Stephan) - Review of 'The Rise and Fall of Soul and Self', by Raymond Martin and John Barresi", 2008, External Link, Internal PDF Link
    3. "Brandon (Ed) - Review of David Lund's 'Persons, Souls and Death'", 2009, External Link
    4. "Carruthers (Peter) - Introducing Persons: Identity and the Soul", 1986
    5. "Carruthers (Peter) - Strong Dualism: Body and Soul", 2004
    6. "Cooper (John) - Body, Soul and Life Everlasting: Preface to the Second Printing", 1989
    7. "Corcoran (Kevin) - Soul, Body and Survival: Introduction - Soul or Body?", 2001
    8. "Dennett (Daniel) - The Mind's I - Fantasies and Reflections on Self and Soul: Introduction", 1981, External Link, Internal PDF Link
    9. "Geach (Peter) - God and the Soul (Analytical ToC)", 1969
    10. "Hershenov (David) - Review of Nancey Murphy's 'Bodies and Souls, or Spirited Bodies?'", 2007, Annotations, External Link, Internal PDF Link
    11. "Kagan (Shelly) - Personal Identity, Part I: Identity across space and time and the soul theory", 2007, External Link
    12. "Moreland (J.P.) & Rae (Scott) - Body & Soul: Introduction", 2000, Write-Up Note¹⁶
    13. "Murphy (Nancey) - Do Christians need souls? Theological and Biblical perspectives on human nature", 2006
    14. "Olson (Eric) - What are We? A Study of Personal Ontology", 2007, Book
    15. "Olson (Eric) - What Are We? Souls", 2007, Write-Up Note¹⁷, Internal PDF Link
    16. "Shoemaker (David) - Embryos, Souls, and the Fourth Dimension", 2005, Annotations, Internal PDF Link
• A further reading list might start with:-
  • General:
    1. "Anderson (Ray S.) - On Being Human: The Spiritual Saga of a Creaturely Soul", 1998, Read = 6%
    2. "Baltimore (Joseph A.) - Got to Have Soul", 2006, Internal PDF Link
    3. "Blachowicz (James) - The Dialogue of the Soul With Itself", 2002
    4. "Bloom (Paul) - Gods, Souls, and Science", 2004, No Abstract
    5. "Braine (David) - How Human Beings Transcend the Body: First Explanation - the Transcendence of the Human Soul", 1993
    6. "Brown (Warren), Murphy (Nancey) & Malony (H. Newton), Eds. - Whatever Happened to the Soul: Scientific and Theological Portraits of Human Nature", 1998, Book, Read = 4%
    7. "Bruntrup (Godehard) - Soul, Body and Survival: The Renaissance of Christian Materialism", 2009, External Link, Internal PDF Link, Read = 17%
    8. "Cooper (John) - Body, Soul and Life Everlasting: Biblical Anthropology and the Monism-dualism Debate", 2000, Book, Read = 23%
    9. "Corcoran (Kevin) - I'm No Soul, Man: a Response to Baltimore", 2006, Internal PDF Link
    10. "Corcoran (Kevin) - Rethinking Human Nature: A Christian Materialist Alternative to the Soul", 2006, Book, Read = 13%
    11. "Corcoran (Kevin), Ed. - Soul, Body and Survival: Essays on the Metaphysics of Human Persons", 2001, Book, Read = 103%
    12. "Crabbe (James), Ed. - From Soul to Self", 1999, Book, Read = 2%
    13. "Cullmann (Oscar) - Immortality of the Soul or Resurrection of the Dead?", 1973, External Link, Internal PDF Link, Read = 11%
    14. "Dainton (Barry) - Routes to the Modern Soul", 2014, No Abstract
    15. "Gillett (Carl) - What you are and the evolution of organs, souls and superorganisms: a reply to Blatti", 2013, Internal PDF Link, Read = 22%
    16. "Hershenov (David) - Soulless Organisms? Hylomorphism vs. Animalism", 2011, External Link, Internal PDF Link, Read = 5%
    17. "Hershenov (David) & Taylor (Adam P.) - Split Brains: No Headache for the Soul Theorist", 2014, External Link, Internal PDF Link, Read = 5%
    18. "Hofstadter (Douglas) & Dennett (Daniel), Eds. - The Mind's I - Fantasies and Reflections on Self and Soul", 1981, Book, Read = 14%
    19. "Koch-Hershenov (Rose J.) - Totipotency, Twinning, and Ensoulment at Fertilization", 2006, Internal PDF Link
    20. "McCormick (Matt) - Dead as a Doornail: Souls, Brains, and Survival", 2015
    21. "Mercer (Jean) - Explaining Personality: Soul Theory versus Behavior Genetics", 2015
    22. "Merricks (Trenton) - How to Live Forever Without Saving Your Soul: Physicalism and Immortality", 2001
    23. "Moreland (J.P.) & Rae (Scott) - Body & Soul - Human Nature and the Crisis in Ethics", 2000, Book, Read = 11%
    24. "Murphy (Nancey) - Bodies and Souls, or Spirited Bodies?", 2006, Book, Read = 12%
    25. "Ozanne (Charles) - The Life and Soul of Mortal Man: His Composition, Disintegration, and Resurrection", 1995, Book, Read = 7%
    26. "Peters (Ted) - Resurrection of the Very Embodied Soul?", 2000, External Link
    27. "Porter (Roy) - Flesh in the Age of Reason - The Modern Foundations of Body and Soul", 2004, Book, Footnote₁₈
    28. "Rosenberg (Jay) - Bodies and Souls I - The Limits of Theorizing", 1998
    29. "Rosenberg (Jay) - Bodies and Souls II - The Limits of Imagination, Others", 1998
    30. "Rosenberg (Jay) - Bodies and Souls III - The Limits of Imagination, Oneself", 1998
    31. "Sosa (Ernest) - Subjects Among Other Things", 1987, Internal PDF Link, Read = 12%, Footnote₁₉
    32. "Swinburne (Richard) - The Evolution of the Soul", 1997, Book
    33. "Swinburne (Richard) - The Structure of the Soul", 1987
    34. "Unger (Peter) - Why We Really May Be Immaterial Souls", 2006
    35. "Uzgalis (William) - The Immateriality of the Soul and Personal Identity", 2012, External Link, Internal PDF Link, Read = 17%
    36. "Ward (Keith) - The Battle for the Soul", 1985, Book, Read = 2%
    37. "Wright (N.T.) - Shadows, Souls and Where They Go: Life Beyond Death in Ancient Paganism", 2003
    38. "Zimmerman (Dean) - From Experience to Experiencer", 2011, 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-holder²⁰.

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In-Page Footnotes:

Footnote 18:

• Useful historical background, maybe!

Footnote 19:

• This looks like a really rich paper that's worth giving a lot of attention.

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Table of the Previous 8 Versions of this Note:

Date	Length	Title
20/09/2022 11:24:00	4749	Soul Criterion
11/04/2022 00:01:26	4368	Soul Criterion
17/02/2021 18:50:24	3884	Soul Criterion
10/12/2020 21:23:02	3212	Soul Criterion
14/07/2019 18:05:46	1858	Soul Criterion
01/08/2017 00:11:31	2227	Soul Criterion
27/06/2011 18:57:36	598	Soul Criterion
25/05/2010 14:58:34	84	Soul Criterion

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Note last updated	Reading List for this Topic	Parent Topic
06/07/2023 00:43:12	Soul Criterion	Souls

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Summary of Notes Referenced by This Note

Awaiting Attention (Personal Identity)	Dualism	First-Person Perspective	Fission	Moreland & Rae - Body & Soul: Introduction
Note Links Explanation	Olson - What Are We? Souls	Person	Plug Note Apologia	Souls
Teletransportation	Thought Experiments	Works Read - Explanation

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

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Summary of Notes Citing This Note

Baker - Personal Identity Over Time	Baker - Review - Olson - What Are We?	Buddhism	Dualism	PID Note, Book & Paper Usage, 2, 3, 4, 5
Souls, 2, 3	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, 6, 7
Thesis - Chapter 05 (Persistence and Time)	Thesis - Personal Identity, 2, 3, 4, 5	Thisness (Haecceity)	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?
Baker (Lynne Rudder)	Personal Identity Over Time	Paper		Yes
Baker (Lynne Rudder)	Review of 'What Are We? A Study in Personal Ontology' by Eric T. Olson	Paper		Yes
Kazez (Jean)	The Philosophical Parent: Asking the Hard Questions About Having and Raising Children	Paper		Yes
Olson (Eric)	Life After Death and the Devastation of the Grave	Paper	2, 3	Yes
Shoemaker (David)	Personal Identity and Immortality	Paper	2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8	Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Buddhism	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Chapter 02 (What Are We?)	Paper	2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7	Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Chapter 05 (Persistence and Time)	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Dualism	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Personal Identity	Paper	2, 3, 4, 5	Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Souls	Paper	2, 3	Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Thisness (Haecceity)	Paper		Yes
Zimmerman (Dean)	Video: Can We Survive Our Death?	Paper		Yes

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References & Reading List

Author	Title	Medium	Source	Read?
Anderson (Ray S.)	On Being Human: The Spiritual Saga of a Creaturely Soul	Paper - Cited	Brown (Warren), Murphy (Nancey) & Malony (H. Newton) - Whatever Happened to the Soul: Scientific and Theological Portraits of Human Nature, 1998	6%
Baker (Lynne Rudder)	Review of 'Bodies and Souls, or Spirited Bodies?' by Nancey Murphy	Paper - Cited	Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews 2006.08.03 (August 2006)	Yes
Baker (Lynne Rudder)	Review of 'What Are We? A Study in Personal Ontology' by Eric T. Olson	Paper - Referencing	Mind, 117:1120-1122, 2008	Yes
Blatti (Stephan)	Review of 'The Rise and Fall of Soul and Self', by Raymond Martin and John Barresi	Paper - Cited	Mind 117 (2008): 191–95	Yes
Brown (Warren), Murphy (Nancey) & Malony (H. Newton), Eds.	Whatever Happened to the Soul: Scientific and Theological Portraits of Human Nature	Book - Cited	Brown (Warren), Murphy (Nancey) & Malony (H. Newton), Eds. - Whatever Happened to the Soul: Scientific and Theological Portraits of Human Nature	4%
Cooper (John)	Body, Soul and Life Everlasting: Biblical Anthropology and the Monism-dualism Debate	Book - Cited	Cooper (John) - Body, Soul and Life Everlasting: Biblical Anthropology and the Monism-dualism Debate	23%
Corcoran (Kevin)	Rethinking Human Nature: A Christian Materialist Alternative to the Soul	Book - Cited	Corcoran (Kevin) - Rethinking Human Nature: A Christian Materialist Alternative to the Soul	13%
Corcoran (Kevin), Ed.	Soul, Body and Survival: Essays on the Metaphysics of Human Persons	Book - Cited	Corcoran (Kevin), Ed. - Soul, Body and Survival: Essays on the Metaphysics of Human Persons	99%
Crabbe (James), Ed.	From Soul to Self	Book - Cited	Crabbe (James), Ed. - From Soul to Self	2%
Hershenov (David) & Taylor (Adam P.)	Split Brains: No Headache for the Soul Theorist	Paper - By Subtopic	Religious Studies: An International Journal for the Philosophy of Religion, 2014	5%
Hofstadter (Douglas) & Dennett (Daniel), Eds.	The Mind's I - Fantasies and Reflections on Self and Soul	Book - Cited	Hofstadter (Douglas) & Dennett (Daniel), Eds. - The Mind's I - Fantasies and Reflections on Self and Soul	14%
Martin (L. Michael) & Augustine (Keith)	The Myth of an Afterlife: The Case against Life After Death	Book - Referencing (via Paper Referencing)	Bibliographical details to be supplied	15%
Olson (Eric)	Life After Death and the Devastation of the Grave	Paper - Referencing	Martin & Augustine - The Myth of an Afterlife, Part 2, Chapter 19, 2015: 409-423	Yes
Olson (Eric)	What are We? A Study of Personal Ontology	Book - Cited	Olson (Eric) - What are We? A Study of Personal Ontology	Yes
Olson (Eric)	What Are We? Souls	Paper - Cited	What Are We? A Study in Personal Ontology, Chapter 7 (November 2007: Oxford University Press.)	Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Chapter 05 (Persistence and Time)	Paper - Referencing		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Soul Criterion	Paper - By Subtopic		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Thisness (Haecceity)	Paper - Referencing		Yes

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Text Colour Conventions

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

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