Fission as Division

Could a person divide? And if so, what would happen to them in the process? While so-called "fission cases” in the literature on personal identity are often introduced as cases in which a person divides, the idea that fission would leave one literally divided is usually dismissed outright. The aim of this talk is to argue that this dismissive stance is premature. Properly developed, what I call the "Division View" of fission offers a serious alternative to extant accounts in the literature and sheds new light on questions about what matters in survival.