- 01 Dec 2017 15:55
#14867232
A logical identity is conceptual by nature. "Humanity" is a logical identity, You, as PoD, are not "Humanity." You may share in humanity, or be subsumed in it, but "Humanity" is a concept, it is not itself ipso facto, physical, even if it has physical referents, which goes towards answering your next question.
"Humanity" is itself a logical concept and it "has" physical referents in the sense that actual human beings, as physical entities, are subsumed under that conceptual category.
Likewise, the laws of logic themselves are universal, immutable, and absolute laws that are non-physical, but have physical referents. Observe the following:
The Laws
1. A=A. (Law of Identity)
2. All A≠Non-A (Law of Non-Contradiction)
3. Either A or Non-A. (Law of The Excluded Middle)
The Physical Referents of The Non-Physical Concepts:
1. A Dog is A Dog.
2. All Dog is Not Non-Dog.
3. Either Dog or Non-Dog.
Hence, a potential person has a logical identity, it is a concept like the law of identity or the category of humanity. It does not have an ipso facto physical identity like a particular human at a particular time; however it does have physical referents, just as the above. Which, based on my argument, is your sperm when conception is theoretically possible in the circumstance of actualization, given the natural course of events, and all things being equal.
Thus, you sperm, in certain circumstances only, becomes the physical referent of the logical concept of "potential person."
Well, given my answers already, the answer would have to be Yes. The potential person necessarily corresponds to an actual person and had that potential person not subsumed everything he would be as an actual person via a fixed persona (which is likewise potential), the actual person could not exist with his unique persona.
Therefore, in that very narrow sense, yes, a potential person, when such exists and for as long as he exists, has an identity as unique persona that is tied to/subsumed in the concept itself. The nature and role of what a potential person is, in relation to an actual person, demands this conclusion.
No, because a mere idea, or thought, is not a potential person. A potential person is the person that would otherwise exist. Logically, a potential person's relationship to an actual person is the same as a caterpillar to a butterfly (remember, logically speaking, not physically speaking). If the natural course of events is permitted to progress, all things being equal, the caterpillar WILL become a buttefly, this will happen unless the process is disrupted. This logically, is very different from the "idea" or "imagining" of a child you conjure independently in your own mind. Such do not have any necessary physical referents or any identity in the sense you are proposing. Potential persons are tied to certain physical circumstances (e.g. the possibility of conception), ideas or imaginings are not.
"It is when a people forget God that tyrants forge their chains. A vitiated state of morals... is incompatible with freedom."
- Patrick Henry
Pants-of-dog wrote:What is a logical identity, and how does that differ from the identity that we all have as people?
A logical identity is conceptual by nature. "Humanity" is a logical identity, You, as PoD, are not "Humanity." You may share in humanity, or be subsumed in it, but "Humanity" is a concept, it is not itself ipso facto, physical, even if it has physical referents, which goes towards answering your next question.
Pants-of-dog wrote:What is a corresponding set of physical referents? How does a concept or idea have them?
"Humanity" is itself a logical concept and it "has" physical referents in the sense that actual human beings, as physical entities, are subsumed under that conceptual category.
Likewise, the laws of logic themselves are universal, immutable, and absolute laws that are non-physical, but have physical referents. Observe the following:
The Laws
1. A=A. (Law of Identity)
2. All A≠Non-A (Law of Non-Contradiction)
3. Either A or Non-A. (Law of The Excluded Middle)
The Physical Referents of The Non-Physical Concepts:
1. A Dog is A Dog.
2. All Dog is Not Non-Dog.
3. Either Dog or Non-Dog.
Hence, a potential person has a logical identity, it is a concept like the law of identity or the category of humanity. It does not have an ipso facto physical identity like a particular human at a particular time; however it does have physical referents, just as the above. Which, based on my argument, is your sperm when conception is theoretically possible in the circumstance of actualization, given the natural course of events, and all things being equal.
Thus, you sperm, in certain circumstances only, becomes the physical referent of the logical concept of "potential person."
Pants-of-dog wrote:And by identity, I mean a unique persona that stays with a thing for its entire existence no matter how much that thing changes.
Well, given my answers already, the answer would have to be Yes. The potential person necessarily corresponds to an actual person and had that potential person not subsumed everything he would be as an actual person via a fixed persona (which is likewise potential), the actual person could not exist with his unique persona.
Therefore, in that very narrow sense, yes, a potential person, when such exists and for as long as he exists, has an identity as unique persona that is tied to/subsumed in the concept itself. The nature and role of what a potential person is, in relation to an actual person, demands this conclusion.
Pants-of-dog wrote:It seems like you are saying that a potential person is the idea of the possible kid if pregnancy occurs. If that is what the potential person is, then no, it does not have an identity.
No, because a mere idea, or thought, is not a potential person. A potential person is the person that would otherwise exist. Logically, a potential person's relationship to an actual person is the same as a caterpillar to a butterfly (remember, logically speaking, not physically speaking). If the natural course of events is permitted to progress, all things being equal, the caterpillar WILL become a buttefly, this will happen unless the process is disrupted. This logically, is very different from the "idea" or "imagining" of a child you conjure independently in your own mind. Such do not have any necessary physical referents or any identity in the sense you are proposing. Potential persons are tied to certain physical circumstances (e.g. the possibility of conception), ideas or imaginings are not.
"It is when a people forget God that tyrants forge their chains. A vitiated state of morals... is incompatible with freedom."
- Patrick Henry