Persons, Animals, Ourselves

The starting point for this book is a particular answer to a question that grips many of us: what kind of thing are we? The particular answer is that we are animals (of a certain sort)-a view nowadays called 'animalism'. This answer will appear obvious to many but on the whole philosophers have rejected it. The initial chapters analyse the content and general philosophical implications of animalism-including the so-called problem of personal identity, and that of the unity of consciousness- and they provide a framework which cateforises the standard philosophical objections.