Argumenta – Journal of Analytic Philosophy

Is What Matters Present in a Fission Scenario? A Conventionalist Response to Noonan [Article Discussion]

Topics: Metaphysics, Ontology, Philosophy of mind, Theoretical philosophy
Keywords: Conventionalism, Derek Parfit, Eric Olson, Fission cases, Harold Noonan, Personal identity

 

In a recent paper, Olson (2019) returned to Parfit’s argument from the possibility of fission to the unimportance of identity to claim that it is inconsistent with Parfit’s ontological commitments. Picking up Olson’s claim, Noonan (2024) argues that one consequence of this is that Parfit’s argument necessarily fails to yield its conclusion. Here I show that Noonan’s ontological stance is similar to Parfit’s in one significant sense, thus diminishing the scope of his claim. As a result, I hold that if we want to defend that personal identity is what matters, we should reject that what matters may be present in a fission scenario.

Among the many contributions that Derek Parfit made to the debate on personal identity, his argument from the possibility of fission to the unimportance of identity stands out for its relevance (Parfit 1984: 253–266). Recently, Eric Olson revisited this argument, claiming it does not work if one accepts Parfit’s ontology (Olson 2019). In this regard, Olson argues that Parfit’s argument about the unimportance of identity lacks…

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