Lots of Locke!

In this post, I write about the problem of personal identity and Locke.

In this one, I explain how different things have different criteria for identity, according to Locke.

Here I give some context for Locke.

AND HERE I link to two tracks from members of MN hip hop collective Doomtree: P.O.S.'s De la Souls & Dessa's The Man I Knew.

Locke on Living Things

"That being then one plant which has such an organization of parts in one coherent body, partaking of one common life, it continues to be the same plant as long as it partakes of the same life, though that life be communicated to new particles of matter vitally united to the living plant, in a like continued organization conformable to that sort of plants." (Bk. II, Ch. XXVII, sect. 4)

In the above passage, Locke explains that the identity of a plant is determined by the fact that a plant participates in 'one common life' with 'an organization of parts' in one body.  Even though the life is 'communicated to new particles of matter', these new particles are 'vitally united' to the plant.  Vital here means not only essential but also related to the life of the plant (c.f., vital signs, vitality).

Even a cell is a living thing with an organization of parts.  The different parts of the cell each have a function in preserving and perpetuating the life of the cell.  Although the specific particles or atoms that make up the cell may change over time, the life is a continuous one.  The body may exchange some particles for others, but it remains coherent.