Is Romeo dead? On the persistence of organisms
Date
2018
Authors
Tzinman, R.
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Source Title
Synthese
Print ISSN
0039-7857
Electronic ISSN
1573-0964
Publisher
Springer Netherlands
Volume
195
Issue
9
Pages
4081 - 4105
Language
English
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Journal Title
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Abstract
According to a prominent view of organism persistence (“vitalicism”), organisms cease to exist at death. According to a rival view (“somaticism”), organisms can continue to exist as dead organisms. Most of the arguments in favor of the latter view rely on linguistic and common sense intuitions. I propose a new argument for somaticism by appealing to two other sources that have thus far not figured in the debate: the concept of naturalness, and biological descriptions of organisms, in particular in ethology and ecology. I show that if we hone in on the relevant notion of naturalness, we can show that organisms can (and often do) continue to instantiate the natural property being an organism after death.