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Personal Identity

Biological Criterion

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

Plug Note¹

• Thesis Text:
  1. Biological Criteria are the criteria of identity² associated with the biological view³ of what we⁴ human beings⁵ are.
  2. Animalism⁶ takes this biological view, that we are human animals⁷ (as distinct from persons⁸, or immaterial souls⁹). So, our persistence criteria are those of animals¹⁰.
  3. What should be discussed here is just what these criteria are.
  4. Biological identity criteria in general are slightly wider than those of animals in particular, as they include those for plants¹¹ and other biological organisms¹².
  5. Locke¹³ made the first stab at what this criterion might be. His view was that it was the participation in a single life¹⁴ that made an organism¹⁵ the same organism over time. The concept of a life is itself in need of explanation, and may not (in the absence of vitalism) be logically prior to the concept of an organism.
  6. It seems to me that the biological criterion could (theoretically, at least) allow for metamorphosis¹⁶ (provided that the metamorphosis¹⁷ is into another organism). There are, however, sortal¹⁸ objections to metamorphosis¹⁹.
  7. The jumping-off point for this topic is probably "Wilson (Jack) - Biological Individuality - The identity and Persistence of Living Entities". However, the book is at pains to point out that the persistence criteria for exemplars of particular species – and, indeed, their principles of individuation – differ greatly. Standard views are overly influenced by the assumption that all biological individuals are like large mammals rather than, say, strawberry plants²⁰. However, as we are large mammals, I’m not too worried about this fine point.
  8. Note that the biological criterion is to be distinguished from the body criterion²¹, with which the psychological criterion²² was originally contrasted.

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  Further Remarks
  1. The categorised reading-lists below are of little use and in need of further research. It is somewhat arbitrary as to which books / papers fall under this topic, and which under
     • Biological View²³ or
     • Animalism²⁴.

References

• Relevant Works cited above:
  1. "Wilson (Jack) - Biological Individuality - The identity and Persistence of Living Entities", 1999, Book, Read
• For a page of Links²⁵ to this Note, Click here.
• Works on this topic that I’ve actually read²⁶, include the following:-
  • General:
    1. "Corcoran (Kevin) - Biology or Psychology? Human Persons and Personal Identity", 2003, Annotations
    2. "DeGrazia (David) - Are we essentially persons? Olson, Baker, and a reply", 2002, Write-Up Note²⁷, Annotations, Internal PDF Link, Footnote₂₈
    3. "Lerner (Berel Dov) - Review of 'Personal Identity and Ethics: A Brief Introduction' by David Shoemaker", 2009
    4. "Olson (Eric) - The Biological Approach", 1999
    5. "Shoemaker (David) - Personal Identity and Ethics", 2005-12, Annotations, External Link, Internal PDF Link
    6. "Shoemaker (David) - Personal Identity and Ethics: A Brief Introduction", 2009, Book, Footnote₂₉
    7. "Wilson (Jack) - Biological Individuality - The identity and Persistence of Living Entities", 1999, Book
    8. "Wrangham (Richard) - Review of 'The Tangled Wing: Biological Constraints on the Human Spirit' by Melvin Konner", 2004, External Link, Internal PDF Link
• A further reading list might start with:-
  • General:
    1. "Konner (Melvin) - The Tangled Wing: Biological Constraints on the Human Spirit", 1982, Book
    2. "Meincke (Anne Sophie) & Dupre (John), Eds. - Biological Identity: Perspectives from Metaphysics and the Philosophy of Biology", 2020, Book, Read = 6%

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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-holder³⁰.

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In-Page Footnotes:

Footnote 28:

• See Skeleton Note.

Footnote 29:

• For a review, see "Lerner (Berel Dov) - Review of 'Personal Identity and Ethics: A Brief Introduction' by David Shoemaker".

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Table of the Previous 9 Versions of this Note:

Date	Length	Title
20/09/2022 11:24:00	3518	Biological Criterion
06/05/2022 12:50:24	3137	Biological Criterion
07/02/2021 19:46:34	2987	Biological Criterion
17/05/2020 22:04:48	2475	Biological Criterion
10/06/2018 19:12:00	3921	Biological Criterion
24/04/2018 00:12:58	2954	Biological Criterion
03/02/2018 19:40:48	2942	Biological Criterion
27/06/2011 18:57:36	1439	Biological Criterion
25/05/2010 15:05:46	84	Biological Criterion

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Note last updated	Reading List for this Topic	Parent Topic
06/07/2023 00:43:12	Biological Criterion	Logic of Identity

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Summary of Notes Referenced by This Note

Animalism	Animals	Awaiting Attention (Personal Identity)	Biological View	Body Criterion
Brandom - Toward a Normative Pragmatics (Introduction)	Criteria of Identity	DeGrazia - Are We Essentially Persons?	Human Animals	Human Beings
Life	Locke	Metamorphosis	Note Links Explanation	Organisms
Person	Plants	Plug Note Apologia	Psychological Criterion	Sortals
Souls	What are We?	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

Biological View, 2	Body Criterion	DeGrazia - Are We Essentially Persons?	General Surveys	Olson - What Are We? Animals
PID Note, Book & Paper Usage, 2, 3	Thesis - Chapter 01 (Introduction)	Thesis - Chapter 02 (What are We?)	Thesis - Chapter 06 (Animalism and Arguments for It), 2, 3, 4, 5, 6	Thesis - Chapter 12 (Conclusion)
Thesis - Current Stance	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.

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Authors, Books & Papers Citing this Note

Author	Title	Medium	Extra Links	Read?
DeGrazia (David)	Are we essentially persons? Olson, Baker, and a reply	Paper		Yes
Olson (Eric)	What Are We? Animals	Paper		Yes
Shoemaker (David)	Personal Identity and Ethics	Paper		Yes
Shoemaker (David)	Personal Identity and Ethics - Conclusion: Notes on Method	Paper	2	Yes
Shoemaker (David)	Personal Identity and Immortality	Paper		Yes
Shoemaker (David)	Personal Identity and Moral Responsibility	Paper		Yes
Shoemaker (David)	Personal Identity, Rational Anticipation, and Self-Concern	Paper	2	Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Biological View	Paper	2	Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Body Criterion	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Chapter 01 (Introduction)	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Chapter 02 (What Are We?)	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Chapter 06 (Animalism and Arguments for It)	Paper	2, 3, 4, 5, 6	Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Chapter 12 (Conclusion)	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Current Position	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - General Surveys	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Personal Identity	Paper	2, 3, 4, 5, 6	Yes

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References & Reading List

Author	Title	Medium	Source	Read?
Campbell (Courtney S.)	A No-Brainer: Criticisms of Brain-Based Standards of Death	Paper - By Subtopic	Journal of Medicine and Philosophy, Oct. 2001 26.5, pp. 539-551	No
Conway Morris (Simon)	Life's Solution: Inevitable Humans in a Lonely Universe	Book - By Subtopic	Conway Morris (Simon) - Life's Solution: Inevitable Humans in a Lonely Universe	4%
Corcoran (Kevin)	Biology or Psychology? Human Persons and Personal Identity	Paper - Cited	Petrus - On Human Persons, 2003	Yes
DeGrazia (David)	Human Identity and Bioethics	Book - By Subtopic	DeGrazia (David) - Human Identity and Bioethics	7%
Dupre (John)	Processes within Processes: A Dynamic Account of Living Beings and its Implications for Understanding the Human Individual	Paper - By Subtopic	Meincke (Anne Sophie) & Dupre (John), Eds. - Biological Identity: Perspectives from Metaphysics and the Philosophy of Biology	6%
Ferner (Adam)	Metaphysics and biology: a critique of David Wiggins’ account of personal identity	Paper - By Subtopic	PhD Thesis, Birkbeck, 2014	98%
Ferner (Adam)	Processual Individuals and Moral Responsibility	Paper - By Subtopic	Meincke (Anne Sophie) & Dupre (John), Eds. - Biological Identity: Perspectives from Metaphysics and the Philosophy of Biology	6%
Fetzer (James)	The Evolution of Intelligence: Are Humans the Only Animals with Minds?	Book - Referenced	Fetzer (James) - The Evolution of Intelligence: Are Humans the Only Animals with Minds?	3%
Green (Michael) & Wikler (Daniel)	Brain Death and Personal Identity	Paper - By Subtopic	Philosophy and Public Affairs, 1980, 105-133	Yes
Huneman (Philippe)	Biological Individuals as ‘Weak Individuals’ and their Identity: Exploring a Radical Hypothesis in the Metaphysics of Science	Paper - By Subtopic	Meincke (Anne Sophie) & Dupre (John), Eds. - Biological Identity: Perspectives from Metaphysics and the Philosophy of Biology	6%
Kingma (Elselijn)	Pregnancy and Biological Identity	Paper - By Subtopic	Meincke (Anne Sophie) & Dupre (John), Eds. - Biological Identity: Perspectives from Metaphysics and the Philosophy of Biology	6%
Kitts (David B.) & Kitts (David J.)	Biological Species as Natural Kinds	Paper - By Subtopic	Philosophy of Science 46, No. 4 (Dec., 1979), pp. 613-622	No
Konner (Melvin)	The Tangled Wing: Biological Constraints on the Human Spirit	Book - Cited	Konner (Melvin) - The Tangled Wing: Biological Constraints on the Human Spirit	No
Konner (Melvin)	The Tangled Wing: Biological Constraints on the Human Spirit	Paper - By Subtopic	Konner (Melvin) - The Tangled Wing: Biological Constraints on the Human Spirit	No
Meincke (Anne Sophie)	Human Persons – A Process View	Paper - By Subtopic	Was sind und wie existieren Personen? (What are Persons and how Do They Exist?), ed. by Jörg Noller, Münster: Mentis, 2019	Yes
Meincke (Anne Sophie)	Persons as Biological Processes: A Bio-Processual Way Out of the Personal Identity Dilemma	Paper - By Subtopic	Everything Flows. Towards a Processual Philosophy of Biology, ed. by D. J. Nicholson & J. A. Dupré, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018, 357-378.	33%
Meincke (Anne Sophie)	Processual Animalism: Towards a Scientifically Informed Theory of Personal Identity	Paper - By Subtopic	Meincke (Anne Sophie) & Dupre (John), Eds. - Biological Identity: Perspectives from Metaphysics and the Philosophy of Biology	33%
Meincke (Anne Sophie) & Dupre (John)	Biological Identity: Why Metaphysicians and Philosophers of Biology Should Talk to One Another	Paper - By Subtopic	Meincke (Anne Sophie) & Dupre (John), Eds. - Biological Identity: Perspectives from Metaphysics and the Philosophy of Biology	40%
Meincke (Anne Sophie) & Dupre (John), Eds.	Biological Identity: Perspectives from Metaphysics and the Philosophy of Biology	Book - Cited	Meincke (Anne Sophie) & Dupre (John), Eds. - Biological Identity: Perspectives from Metaphysics and the Philosophy of Biology	6%
Moreno (Alvaro)	The Role of Individuality in the Origin of Life	Paper - By Subtopic	Meincke (Anne Sophie) & Dupre (John), Eds. - Biological Identity: Perspectives from Metaphysics and the Philosophy of Biology	6%
Newman (Stuart A.)	The Origins and Evolution of Animal Identity	Paper - By Subtopic	Meincke (Anne Sophie) & Dupre (John), Eds. - Biological Identity: Perspectives from Metaphysics and the Philosophy of Biology	6%
Nicholson (Daniel J.) & Dupre (John), Eds.	Everything Flows: Towards a Processual Philosophy of Biology	Book - By Subtopic (via Paper By Subtopic)	Nicholson (Daniel J.) & Dupre (John), Eds. - Everything Flows: Towards a Processual Philosophy of Biology	2%
Oderberg (David)	Siphonophores: A Metaphysical Case Study	Paper - By Subtopic	Meincke (Anne Sophie) & Dupre (John), Eds. - Biological Identity: Perspectives from Metaphysics and the Philosophy of Biology	6%
Olson (Eric)	Papers on Identity Boxes: Vol 13 (Olson)	Book - By Subtopic (via Paper By Subtopic)	Olson (Eric) - Papers on Identity Boxes: Vol 13 (Olson)	16%
Olson (Eric)	Review of Jack Wilson's 'Biological Individuality: The Identity and Persistence of Living Entities'	Paper - By Subtopic	Philosophical Quarterly, 2001, Vol. 51 Issue 203, p264-6	No
Olson (Eric)	The Biological Approach	Paper - By Subtopic	The Human Animal, September 1999, Chapter 6, pp. 124-153	Yes
Olson (Eric)	The Human Animal - Personal Identity Without Psychology	Book - Referenced	Olson (Eric) - The Human Animal - Personal Identity Without Psychology	Yes
Olson (Eric)	What are We? A Study of Personal Ontology	Book - Referenced	Olson (Eric) - What are We? A Study of Personal Ontology	Yes
Olson (Eric)	What Are We? Animals	Paper - Referencing	What Are We? A Study in Personal Ontology, Chapter 2 (November 2007: Oxford University Press.)	Yes
Olson (Eric)	What is the Problem of Biological Individuality?	Paper - By Subtopic	Meincke (Anne Sophie) & Dupre (John), Eds. - Biological Identity: Perspectives from Metaphysics and the Philosophy of Biology	6%
Petrus (Klaus), Ed.	On Human Persons	Book - Cited (via Paper Cited)	Bibliographical details to be supplied	73%
Ruse (Michael)	Biological Species: Natural Kinds, Individuals, or What?	Paper - By Subtopic	British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 38, No. 2 (Jun., 1987), pp. 225-242	No
Shoemaker (David)	Personal Identity and Ethics - Conclusion: Notes on Method	Paper - By Subtopic	Shoemaker (David) - Personal Identity and Ethics: A Brief Introduction, 2009, Conclusion	Yes
Shoemaker (David)	Personal Identity and Ethics: A Brief Introduction	Book - Cited	Shoemaker (David) - Personal Identity and Ethics: A Brief Introduction	Yes
Shoemaker (David)	Personal Identity and Moral Responsibility	Paper - By Subtopic	Shoemaker (David) - Personal Identity and Ethics: A Brief Introduction, 2009, Chapter 7	Yes
Shoemaker (David)	Personal Identity, Rational Anticipation, and Self-Concern	Paper - By Subtopic	Shoemaker (David) - Personal Identity and Ethics: A Brief Introduction, 2009, Chapter 2	Yes
Snowdon (Paul)	The Nature of Persons and the Nature of Animals	Paper - By Subtopic	Meincke (Anne Sophie) & Dupre (John), Eds. - Biological Identity: Perspectives from Metaphysics and the Philosophy of Biology	6%
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Biological Criterion	Paper - By Subtopic		Yes
Walsh (Denis) & Wiebe (Kayla)	The Being of Living Beings: Foundationalist Materialism versus Hylomorphism	Paper - By Subtopic	Meincke (Anne Sophie) & Dupre (John), Eds. - Biological Identity: Perspectives from Metaphysics and the Philosophy of Biology	6%
Wilson (Jack)	Beyond Horses and Oak Trees: A New Theory of Individuation for Living Entities	Paper - By Subtopic	Wilson, Jack - Biological Individuality: The identity and Persistence of Living Entities; 1999, Chap. 1, pp. 1-21	Yes
Wilson (Jack)	Biological Individuality - The identity and Persistence of Living Entities	Book - Cited	Wilson (Jack) - Biological Individuality - The identity and Persistence of Living Entities	Yes
Wilson (Jack)	Generation and Corruption	Paper - By Subtopic	Wilson, Jack - Biological Individuality: The identity and Persistence of Living Entities; 1999, Chap. 5, pp. 86-104	Yes
Wilson (Jack)	Identity and Sortals: Why Relative Identity Is Self-Contradictory	Paper - By Subtopic	Wilson, Jack - Biological Individuality: The identity and Persistence of Living Entities; 1999, Appendix, pp. 119-126	Yes
Wilson (Jack)	Individuality and Equivocation	Paper - By Subtopic	Wilson, Jack - Biological Individuality: The identity and Persistence of Living Entities; 1999, Chap. 3, pp. 48-68	Yes
Wilson (Jack)	Personal Identity Naturalized: Our Bodies, Our Selves	Paper - By Subtopic	Wilson, Jack - Biological Individuality: The identity and Persistence of Living Entities; 1999, Chap. 6, pp. 105-118	Yes
Wilson (Jack)	The Biological and Philosophical Roots of Individuality	Paper - By Subtopic	Wilson, Jack - Biological Individuality: The identity and Persistence of Living Entities; 1999, Chap. 2, pp. 22-47	Yes
Wilson (Jack)	The Necessity of Biological Origin and Substantial Kinds	Paper - By Subtopic	Wilson, Jack - Biological Individuality: The identity and Persistence of Living Entities; 1999, Chap. 4, pp. 69-81	Yes
Wrangham (Richard)	Review of 'The Tangled Wing: Biological Constraints on the Human Spirit' by Melvin Konner	Paper - By Subtopic	Evolutionary Psychology – ISSN 1474-7049 – 2004. Volume 2. pp. 3-6	Yes

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Text Colour Conventions

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

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