ABSTRACT
There is an assumption found in the personal identity debate – and voiced by Animalists and Human Being Theorists alike – that individuation of humans, in contrast to persons, is relatively straightforward. This assumption is questioned here, by deferring to work on biological individuality. How do we single out the ‘organisms’ that we pick out in our day-to-day lives? There is a variety of biological models – the physiological-functional account, the genetic account, and the immunological account – but none of them seem to map onto the beings we pre-theoretically individuate. Their merits and failings are assessed, and a solution is offered. Following this, some broader thoughts about Wiggins’s ‘verdant realism’ are offered, and it is shown how he can respond to a criticism of ‘genetic essentialism’.
