No explanation of persons, no explanation of resurrection: on Lynne Baker’s constitution view and the resurrection of human persons

International Journal for Philosophy of Religion 76 (3):297-317 (2014)
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Abstract

I don’t think Lynne Rudder Baker’s constitution view can account for personal identity problems of a synchronic or diachronic nature. As such, it cannot accommodate the Christian’s claim of eschatological bodily resurrection-a principle reason for which she gives this account. In light of this, I press objections against her constitution view in the following ways: First, I critique an analogy she draws between Aristotle’s “accidental sameness” and constitution. Second, I address three problems for Baker’s constitution view [‘Constitution Problems’ ], each more problematic than the next: CP1: Her definition of constitution lacks explanatory power; CP2: If there is a plausible definition of constitution, constitution implies either too many persons or no human persons at all; CP3: Constitution yields no essential distinction between human and divine persons. If my argument go through, her constitution view has neither an explanation for diachronic personal identity nor personal identity through resurrection.

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James T. Turner Jr.
Anderson University

Citations of this work

Purgatory Puzzles: Moral Perfection and the Parousia.James T. Turner Jr - 2017 - Journal of Analytic Theology 5:197-219.
The problems of life after death.Thomas Charles Atkinson - 2019 - Philosophy Compass 14 (10):e12595.
Identity, incarnation, and the imago Dei.James T. Turner - 2020 - International Journal for Philosophy of Religion 88 (1):115-131.

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References found in this work

The Nature of Necessity.Alvin Plantinga - 1974 - Oxford, England: Clarendon Press.
Persons and Bodies: A Constitution View.Lynne Rudder Baker - 2000 - New York: Cambridge University Press.
Identity.Harold Noonan & Benjamin L. Curtis - 2022 - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
Metaphysics. Aristotle - 1952 - New York,: Columbia University Press. Edited by Richard Hope.

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